(Mark and Evie on our 30th Wedding Anniversary)30 years ago yesterday, Evie and I were married in a beautiful service in a little white church in a small town in Nebraska. Since that time we have spent over 9,460,800 seconds being married! It has been a great journey and one I wouldn't want to have missed in my lifetime. Here are some of the high points from my perspective of our 30 years together. My list order has nothing to do with the significance of those events:
- Our wedding and having my father preside at the ceremony.
- Our first home together in Sioux Falls.
- The birth of our wonderful daughter, Carrie.
- The marriage of our daughter Carrie to our wonderful son-in-law, Marc Anderson (we always say he is the son we never had until now!)
-Trip to Oregon and California early in our marriage.
- Honeymoon in Lake of the Ozarks and our 25th anniversary back at
the same place with the same name!
- Dedication of Carrie and her baptism (also getting to see my father baptize his granddaughter!)
- Trip to northern Minnesota and the lighthouses.
New One Added Thanks to Suggestion of Daughter, Carrie A. 08/04
and then shared the results with the world!!!! Yuk!- Moving the kids to Texas for graduate school.
- Visiting our kids in Texas several times a year.
- Hearing my son-in-law preach and give communion for the first time!
- Watching our daughter graduate at Baylor.
- Handing Carrie her diploma at the USF graduation several years ago.
- Walking my daughter down the aisle at her wedding.
- Touring the old pink school in Iowa with Carrie and Evie (now torn
down).
- Evie learning to swim at age 34!
- Trips to Sand Lake in the old white car!
- Early morning picnics and trying to get Carrie out of the car to eat with
the ants!
- Great visits with my daughter and son-in-law (phone and in person).
- Trips to the farm in Nebraska with my family.
- Evie, Carrie and Marc's support of my doctorate program!
- Taking Carrie to kindergarten (1st day).
- Taking Carrie to college (1st day).
- Trip to Colorado with my family several years ago!
- Late night talks with Carrie when she was home from college.
- Picnics with Evie to various parks in and around Sioux Falls.
- New Years Eve Parties at the Youtzys.
- Carrie getting her first pair of glasses!
- Early morning breakfasts with just Carrie and me at Hardees.
- New Year's Eve Parties with the Sioux Falls "Sisterhood" or the "Hood"
as the husbands call it!
- Picking Carrie up from school and surprising her.
- Carrie's first car (Big Blue).
- Our annual Parade of Lights Event (Friday after Thanksgiving) followed by pizza!
- Friday Night Family Pizza Nights.
- Going to Green Lake, WI together!
- Going out for Chinese food on Sundays!
- Sunday evening band concerts at Terrace Park!
- Fixing pancake breakfasts on Saturday morning.
- Family camp in the Black Hills.
- Watching cartoons with Carrie on Saturday mornings!
- Trip to Canada.
- Evie's homemade strawberry/rhubarb jam!
- Fires in the backyard and hot dog roasts.
- Carrie getting her braces for her teeth!
- Watching Carrie drive for the first time!
- Sour cream raisin pie moments with Evie!
- Carrie losing her retainer at McDonalds in the garbage.
- Carrie getting RID of her braces!
- Easter egg hunts with Carrie, Danny and Andy!
- Times at the lake.
- Our GREAT friends all across the world!
- Evie's chicken and noodles!
- Picnic late at night at Covell Lake with Evie!
- Spam and macaroni with cheese!
- Trips to the Wizard of Oz Park in Aberdeen.
- Movies at Dells Theatre.
- Surprise dinners from Evie after a hard day at work!
- Earning my graduate degree at SDSU!
- Guests in our home.
- Playing the organ in church at Emmanuel (Gloria Patria!).
- Small groups and Sunday school classes Evie and I have taught
together.
- Evie's great potato salad! (They call me Tater Salad! Inside joke)!
- Dinners on Sunday at Yonkers's!
- Times of prayer and Bible study together.
- Walks in the neighborhood in the fall.
- Cats (Callie and Domino).
- Evie's GREAT meatloaf!
- Tuna sandwiches, green peppers, potato chips and pop in the car on
long trips!
- Attending Christmas eve services with my family!
- Opening stockings on Christmas eve!
- I can't believe I forgot this one! LEAVING USF AFTER 27 YEARS! One of the best things I ever did for my physical as well as mental and spiritual health!
- And the list goes on and on.....
I realized that I could fill up pages of memories but I won't. But I will probably add to that list in the days ahead as I think about special memories the past 30+ years we have shared together.
(Flowers from Mark to Evie on their 30th!)
I can't imagine what it must be like to be married to the wrong person. My love for Evie has grown each year. She is more beautiful than she was the day I asked her to marry in the restaurant in Luverne, MN. We are both closer to God and to one another more now than ever before. We have gone through some interesting and what felt like challenging days later to learn that there wasn't anything bad about it. That what happened happened for a reason. And even those times when we didn't understand why, but were reminded about how God works and how we needed
to not ask the question, Why? but rather, Why Not?
Thanks Evie for being my mate, my lover, my best friend. Thanks for your willingness to drive 50 miles for an ice cream cone or drive around for hours trying to find a restaurant and finally going home to fix supper because we couldn't seem to agree on the same menu! Thanks honey for putting up with my stupid ideas that you listened to, you loved and I know you prayed about. That is why most of those stupid ideas we never took action on. But thanks for dreaming with me. And lastly, thanks Babe for being there for me including during this interesting stage in our life! As Pearl Shadle (see earlier post) would agree, "life just don't get no better Evie!"
Love ya,
Marko
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