Anniversaries

The last part of June is filled with Wedding Anniversaries. Lots of Anniversaries. MaMa and Pop Ick, Kathie and Bobby, Julia and Braxton, Beth and John, Dawn and Mike.

David and Me. Mom and Dad.

We have spent our anniversaries in a variety of ways. Sometimes not together. One year I was with fun high schoolers and friends in Paris floating down the Seine River to the Eiffel Tower. When we climbed to the top of the Tower, I called David on the cell phone to say Happy Anniversary. There was a beautiful view of the moon from the Eiffel Tower and it brought Kathie's production of "Big River" to mind. I could hear Big Jim singing, "I see the same moon that you see, but we're miles apart."

Another year when traveling with the high schoolers, another mom Dawn, was also celebrating her anniversary away from home. Dawn and I had a picture taken in front of the Roman Coliseum with two burly Roman Guards and emailed it home with the caption - "Wish you were here!"

But this year - our 24th - we spent our anniversary together. And with some other folks too.

Tap Dance Teaching Neighbor Beth and her sweet John were married on the same day, on the same year as we were. Our rehearsal dinners were on the same night and at the same place. Their party was in one room at North Lake and ours was in another. We probably should have just held these events together.

Beth's family and mine go back many years but at the time, Beth and John were in show biz living in Los Angeles. Never did we dream we would be backyard neighbors 24 years later. What a blessing and a joy to have such good and talented friends so close to home.

So, we decided to celebrate a portion of our 24th anniversary by going to the Lake for a quiet boat ride and dinner. Well, the dinner was quiet and wonderful. We had John and Jessica's Salmon wrapped in Foil, Steve Royster's Organic Potatoes, David's Tenderloin, Salad with Carol's French Dressing. Seemed like alot of our friends were there. But it was just the four of us.

In honor of the recent movie making in town, John brought Francis Ford Coppola wine to share. They also brought an apron with a funny slogan. Beth and I have several funny stories about aprons.

But the funniest part of our shared anniversary evening at the Lake was before dinner when John and David went tree fishin'. A tree had become lodged down at the extra dock - Cindy's boathole as David Martin calls it. There is a similar dock called Sally's Boathole at the Martin house. But I digress.

David decided it was a good time to try and move the lodged tree out of the way. Using the boat - and ropes - and a lot of ingenuity, John and David worked to free the dock of the huge tree. It wasn't going as planned. In fact, things looked rather dire. John recalled his time working lighting in the movie industry. "How would a film crew do this job? -- Just like this."

Eventually, both John and David ended up in the water, slowly fishin' the tree to the bank and then tying it so it wouldn't float back into the lake.

As Beth and I observed all this from the boat, Beth delivered her own great line, "What would Katniss do?" Followed by, "If I just had a bow and arrow, I could take care of this."

It may have been funnier to the audience in the boat than the tree fishermen. But there's nothing like laughter to remind ourselves how we have stayed married for 24 years.

As proud as we are of our 24 years, it doesn't hold a candle to Mom and Dad's anniversary. They have now been married for 65 years. 65 years. No doubt a lot of laughter has been present.

For their anniversary, Mom mentioned that she would like to "go somewhere I have never been - like Cashiers". Dad authorized me to figure that out and so I did.

Dad, Mom, David and I struck out on a 30 hour adventure. Our destination was the Old Edwards Inn in Highlands which is a mighty fine place to be. Along the way we took Mom and Dad to our favorite lunch spot in those parts - Hot Dog World. There is no finer place for a Hot Dog. Anywhere. The dogs and chili are the best and so are the prices. And the service at Hot Dog World is quick and friendly. They love their customers and it shows.

Leaving Hot Dog World, we were on Laurel Park Highway when Mom and Dad mentioned that they had spent their honeymoon 65 years ago in a nearby inn. So, using the handy IPad we drove around until we arrived at the Echo Mountain Inn.

The Innkeeper and staff were more than happy to open up the Honeymoon Suite so Mom and Dad could see the amazing view from the three huge windows of the room where they had stayed 65 years before. Mom suggested they share their 75th anniversary there. It was a super sweet moment and they shared some stories and a kiss before we headed on our way to Highlands.

We had beautiful rooms with a porch to watch the activity on Main Street. They really pamper you at the Old Edwards Inn and they have the best Vidalia Onion soup ever. We all enjoyed meeting a lot of people from various places. It was interesting that many of these people were also sharing anniversaries - from one year to 24 years to 43 years. But Mom and Dad had everybody beat at 65 years.

On the way home, we spent some extra time in Cashiers and then as we drove toward Hendersonville it felt like lunchtime again. It was unanimous that we would do lunch at Hot Dog World.

Oh the simple things in life. Friends, family, stories, laughter. Hot dogs. Time.

The glue that keeps people together.

I couldn't help but think about Mitch Miller again. Singing along with Mitch in the old days in Lattimore. Just enjoying the simple things. And each other.

"You're the cream in my coffee
You're the salt in my stew
You will always be my necessity
I'd be lost without you"