Re-committing to love

Kathy and I are getting married this weekend.

Well, almost. What we’re doing is renewing our wedding vows in a ceremony at St Joseph Catholic Church in Jefferson.

Our close friend the Reverend Roger Linnan, former priest at St. Joseph and now of Sioux City, will perform the ceremony. It’s his first crack at us – we were married nearly 43 years ago, on Feb. 2, 1980, in my parents’ home at Lake Panorama, with the late Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Harris of Jefferson officiating and with all our close relatives present.

(Feb. 2 is Ground Hog Day. That’s a big help as a reminder, given my memory challenges, which were always present but disturbingly more so these days.) 

Our four children, bless them, will all be there this weekend, as will our daughters-in-law, son-in-law, and all but one of our six grandchildren. Daughter Molly and her husband are flying in from Texas, son Matt from North Carolina, and granddaughter Laura from Arizona. Dan’s family lives in Ames and David’s in Adel. Kathy has organized a role for each of them at the ceremony.

We won’t have a musician this time, except for some recorded music. At the Panorama event my late brother Tom played for us on Mom’s piano. 

We appreciated Tom’s willingness to play. We told him what musical selections we wanted, and he said he could handle them. He seemed eager to do so. The reason became clear at the start of the ceremony.

As Kathy and I entered the living room for the processional, Tom substituted “Send in the Clowns.” As a remembrance, I’ll play that as the processional this weekend.

We had three readings at our 1980 wedding, and grandchildren will reprise them.

We’ll savor the wedding feast afterward back at our house, on takeout from a local restaurant. In 1980 we reserved a banquet room in The Port restaurant at Panorama. It was February, and The Port that winter was closed, but management opened it up for us. Unfortunately the heat hadn’t been on long enough, and we all dined in our winter coats.

Kathy should have no trouble finding the church. That’s different from our wedding day back in 1980. She had been to my parents’ place at the lake a couple of times, but I had always taken her there. She still lived in Ames, and on our wedding day she drove over with her family members. 

As many of you know, the roads through the Lake Panorama residential areas wind around. It’s confusing to newcomers. It was confusing to Kathy. As H-Hour approached I kept looking at my watch, and as the minutes ticked by, I kept telling myself that she had not got cold feet, that she indeed would show up. She did, after taking several wrong turns and backtracks. My heart rate, already pumped for the day, returned closer to normal.

We won’t be wearing what we wore in 1980. That should come as no surprise.

Anyway, it was a signal day back then, and it will be again this weekend. We’re grateful to everyone who made it memorable then, and those who do so now. After almost 43 years we’re convinced more than ever that we did a good thing.

Contact Us

Jefferson Bee & Herald
Address: 200 N. Wilson St.
Jefferson, IA 50129

Phone:(515) 386-4161