For the Good Times

Today is my 35th wedding anniversary. We were married in the church in my hometown in southeast Nebraska. No air conditioning and people thought my husband was nervous when they saw him shaking his leg. He was just trying to get the sweat to run down it a bit faster! Mine was the first of three weddings my parents planned, and since I had spent the summer in Pennsylvania working and setting up our new apartment, most things fell to my mother. My parents decided to have the reception in my hometown and that meant there was only one venue--the "supper club." Actually, this was the basement of the local pool hall/bar and had formerly been a bowling alley when my mother was a teenager. Although there wasn't a private room, my parents figured very few people other than wedding guests would be there since it was also the weekend of the county fair. Sometimes I miss life in small town Nebraska. Mostly not. Turned out they were right, but choosing that venue also meant that they couldn't control the band. It was, of course, a country music group. A trio, I think. My husband and I hadn't planned to have a first dance and so didn't make a request. However, someone urged us to go to the dance floor and it was announced that it was our first dance as a married couple. And with that the band began to play "For the Good Times."* We had been married about three hours by then and were dancing to a song about a failed relationship! We just started laughing and waved everyone else onto the floor with us. We're still laughing about it all these years later.

*The Lyrics