Yesterday was my anniversary
It was yesterday and this year it sort of went by unnoticed. Tony and I were married on the 8th of march 1971 at the small Catholic church of St Anthony of Padua in San Antonio, TX. We had known each other for about 2 and 1/2 years having met at a Neumann club function. We did not start dating until the spring after Tony joined the Navy and I was heading to UT in Austin. We were mostly pen pals for most of the 2 years before we married seeing each other when he would come home on leave. When Tony graduated from "A" school he was sent on to specialize in sonar and so he spent the first 2 years of his Navy career in San Diego going to classes while a lot of his friends whom failed to avoid the draft were being shipped off to Vietnam. After his graduation he was assigned to the USS Richard E. Byrd(DDG23). Shortly after he arrived on the ship they left for a 6month Med cruise that turned into 10 months. The Egyptian and the Israeli army had decided to go to war. When he returned the Byrd was scheduled for an overhaul in the Portsmouth Naval Ship Yards for at least a year. It was to be a total overhaul and refit. It was when they were on the way back that he asked me if I would like to get married to him.
Without a moments hesitation I said yes and when he came home for leave at Christmas he brought me a ring. We also hid away in my apartment at UT for 5 days fucking our brains out. It was after that that we set a date to get married in March right before the ship went into the yards.
When Tony arrived in March he went to my dad and asked for my hand in marriage, it was all so traditional but at that time in the 70s things were still done that way but I also think that if my dad had made a fuss about it that we would have eloped and gotten married in Louisiana on the way back to Norfolk. We had a simple wedding with just our families and some of my mom's friends from the parish. Looking at the pictures that were taken at the ceremony and the reception I can't believe that we were so young. We were both 22, Tony turned 23 in May and I in November. .Seeing them makes me wish that I could find some pictures of my parents wedding in 1947. Mom was 23 and Dad had just turned 33 a few months before the wedding. After the reception we spent the night in the Hotel Tropicana on the river walk near San Pedro. The next morning we went back to my parents house and picked up our trailer with our stuff and meet Ray and Sylvia ,another Navy couple, who rode back to Norfolk with us. We drove out of town on what would eventually become I-10 but at that time was a mix of completed interstate and two lane state highway 90. Just after we passed Seguin we were pulled over by a Seguin Sheriff and both Tony and Ray were asked to get out of the car. I do not know what they thought they had but that would be the first of many traffic stops that we would receive in Guadalupe County over the 36 years of our marriage. A second car arrived and both Sylvia and I were questioned by a female officer about where were we going, who Tony and Ray were and our relationship to them. They even asked if we would let them check the trailer. Both Sylvia and I deferred to the guys for permission to do that . Meanwhile, they were asking both Tony and Ray almsot the same questions plus an added Question as to what were they doing in Texas. Even though both had leave papers and Ids the sheriffs were very suspicious. They finally let us go ,never having searched the trailer, but it was very upsetting.
We drove straight through to New Orleans and found a motel for the night. The next day we walked around the French Quarter and after lunch left for the remainder of the trip to Norfolk. Ray, Tony and I shared driving and we drove straight through to Norfolk. It was the middle of the night when we arrived and we dropped Ray and Sylvia off at their apartment and went to ours and promptly collapsed on the unmade bed in our first home. This is the first of many adventures that I had being a Navy wife.
Without a moments hesitation I said yes and when he came home for leave at Christmas he brought me a ring. We also hid away in my apartment at UT for 5 days fucking our brains out. It was after that that we set a date to get married in March right before the ship went into the yards.
When Tony arrived in March he went to my dad and asked for my hand in marriage, it was all so traditional but at that time in the 70s things were still done that way but I also think that if my dad had made a fuss about it that we would have eloped and gotten married in Louisiana on the way back to Norfolk. We had a simple wedding with just our families and some of my mom's friends from the parish. Looking at the pictures that were taken at the ceremony and the reception I can't believe that we were so young. We were both 22, Tony turned 23 in May and I in November. .Seeing them makes me wish that I could find some pictures of my parents wedding in 1947. Mom was 23 and Dad had just turned 33 a few months before the wedding. After the reception we spent the night in the Hotel Tropicana on the river walk near San Pedro. The next morning we went back to my parents house and picked up our trailer with our stuff and meet Ray and Sylvia ,another Navy couple, who rode back to Norfolk with us. We drove out of town on what would eventually become I-10 but at that time was a mix of completed interstate and two lane state highway 90. Just after we passed Seguin we were pulled over by a Seguin Sheriff and both Tony and Ray were asked to get out of the car. I do not know what they thought they had but that would be the first of many traffic stops that we would receive in Guadalupe County over the 36 years of our marriage. A second car arrived and both Sylvia and I were questioned by a female officer about where were we going, who Tony and Ray were and our relationship to them. They even asked if we would let them check the trailer. Both Sylvia and I deferred to the guys for permission to do that . Meanwhile, they were asking both Tony and Ray almsot the same questions plus an added Question as to what were they doing in Texas. Even though both had leave papers and Ids the sheriffs were very suspicious. They finally let us go ,never having searched the trailer, but it was very upsetting.
We drove straight through to New Orleans and found a motel for the night. The next day we walked around the French Quarter and after lunch left for the remainder of the trip to Norfolk. Ray, Tony and I shared driving and we drove straight through to Norfolk. It was the middle of the night when we arrived and we dropped Ray and Sylvia off at their apartment and went to ours and promptly collapsed on the unmade bed in our first home. This is the first of many adventures that I had being a Navy wife.
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