65

Our road trip has been so exciting as we traveled the northern route across the United States through the desert, the Rockies and the Bighorn mountains, the high plains, the Black Hills, the Badlands and cultivated farmland. At last we reached the Mississippi River and there on the other side we found my aunts and uncle, cousins and all kinds of cousins several times removed, second cousins and other relatives. We'd all gotten together for my aunt and uncle's 65th wedding anniversary. Pretty amazing!

Couldn't find a 65th Anniversary card, so I made this one.
No scanner on the road, though... it actually isn't so antiqued.

My uncle joked that they never had a fight - when she would lay into him after he did something wrong he would say, "Yup! You're right. I did it!" and that would be that. They worked long hours together side by side for many years farming the land and milking cows every day at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. They had five children and now so many grandchildren and great-grandchildren that I've lost count.

It seems to have been a good recipe for a long marriage. They were still looking very happy together after all these years. Now we're driving west again, taking a more southern route back to California. We're in Nebraska now, a long day's drive away from all my relatives and there's a sadness hanging around me. I'm really sorry to leave them all behind so soon and as some of my aunts and uncles are now in their late 80's I worry a little that I might not see them again.

We brought them a bottle of wine from the Custer State Park that had a picture of the State Game Lodge on it, which is where we stayed in the Black Hills of South Dakota and I put the "card" in a leather frame. Wishing a very Happy 65th Anniversary to my Uncle Marvin and Aunt Anita!