I was sitting here this morning, minding my own business, when a blast from my past shows up on my timeline. I wasn’t ready for it. Here is a memory from thirty-five years ago today:

The picture brought back all sorts of memories.

By this time we had been together for almost two years, so there was none of the ridiculousness of trying to impress a prom date with how much you can spend. Her mother, a wonderful seamstress, made her dress. My tux rental was all of thirty-five bucks (yes, those are my cowboy boots; they were the only black “dress shoes” I owned). I made and served dinner to her — salad, ribeyes, potatoes au gratin, broccoli, and cherry pie and ice cream — at my parents’ house, then we changed and went to the event at the Union Station, an event center that used to be the train depot in Dallas. We danced and hung out with friends, then we went to the obligatory after-party. Obviously, it was a pretty good evening if I recall all of the details.

When I look at her today I think she is even more attractive than she was then, and that is saying something as you can tell from the picture: she’s just gorgeous. I almost cannot believe that thirty-five years have passed since that night. We have our thirty-second wedding anniversary this summer, so I know it really is, but it just doesn’t seem that long ago. Now, when I look at myself in the picture I realize how long ago it really was!

A lot of life has transpired since that picture was taken, but the best part is that we have done all that life together. Very few people get to share all their memories from high school with someone who was there to enjoy it, but we have that luxury. I was at all the big events of the year with her, so they are our common memories. Her memory is just a little bit better than mine, though.

I wasn’t expecting to think about this today. We are actually in Scottsdale, Arizona on a business trip, but it certainly brightened up my morning! I’ll have to show her what popped up when we get together for lunch today.

I think I’ll let them fix the meal this time…