The day in 1964 when Carolyn and I wed was sunny, warm, and typical seasonal; just like today. She was a lass of just seventeen summers, and I was a shy, ignorant klutz of 19 years. Being only 17, Carolyn was too young to enter into a marriage contract in Tennessee without parental consent and that damn sure wasn't going to happen! Not only were her parents—her mom in particular—against her becoming wed, they were adamant that she not be wed to me in particular. They figured she (and they) would be happy if she married a "professional" man, someone such as a lawyer or doctor, not some factory worker and non-conformist whom would not suck up to them and be any kind of a "Joe Average".
The previous summer, I purchased an engagement ring that sported a very small diamond, which she accepted along with my awkward proposal. No, I did no get down on one knee to ask her to marry me. However it was done, she was agreeable, but her folks sure were not. No way were they going to allow a country bumpkin to wed their little girl. They did everything they could do to dissuade Carolyn from becoming my Mrs., including having other boys over to dinner on nights they new she had a date with me. They once called the law on me for stopping if front of their house. Their harassment almost worked, too; we actually broke up more than once in the ensuing year due to their meddling which I thought Carolyn sometimes enjoyed; the other guys coming over in particular.
We finally set a date for our elopement, and on my first day of vacation from work I picked her up at the curb in front of her house (by then I was not allowed in the house) and off we went across the mountains into North Carolina; her excuse to her parents was that we were going to a park in Virginia for the day. We drove to Burnsville in Yancey County, located the courthouse and and asked what all we had to do to get married there. It was as simple as getting a blood test, buying a license, and procuring a minister or Justice of the Peace to say the words and make it official. One other thing; both parties had to be 18 years of age. Friends back home had already told me the folks in Burnsville were not sticklers about that particular law if we told them that Carolyn's birth certificate was lost and all we had was a family bible with her birth date recorded therein but we forgot to bring it along, they would overlook such a trivial requirement. The court clerk had gone through this whole procedure many times before, and handed us a card with all the things we needed to do and where to do them and all the related costs.
We left the old courthouse and drove straight to the little clinic and asked to see a doctor, and about twenty minutes later we had our blood drawn and were on our way to lunch while waiting for the results of the test. I was wearing a neat yellow shirt, and managed to spill a huge drop of ketchup on the front of it while dining on a burger and fries; I was then and am still a klutz.
At 2:00pm, we picked up our test results and drove back to the courthouse and bought a license. The clerk asked if we wanted to be married right away and we darn sure did want to do so. She asked if we preferred a minister or JP to do the honors, and we agreed that either would be fine. She dialed the telephone and said something to someone on the other end, and in a few minutes the JP came in. He was an old man, short in stature and very slim with a great disposition and a face which beamed a permanent, weathered smile. He was Justice Angel, and he was an angel of a man. The clerk and another courthouse worker were our witnesses, and in a few minutes Mr. Angel did his part, we did ours, I paid him $10, and we were on our way to Gatlinburg to spend the night.
I was running out of money, so the next morning we returned to my parents house where we would be living for awhile. Carolyn's mom was having a fit. Not only had we gone against her wishes, but it was also her birthday and she did not like her present which consisted of a brand new, disobedient son-in-law. She and Carolyn did not speak to each other for several weeks afterward, but her mom finally accepted the fact her daughter was married, although it took her many years to accept her new family member, if she ever did fully accept me. Carolyn's dad was not so hardened in his heart as was her mom, and welcomed me to the family.
So goes the story of our wedding day, and our marriage has been much the same ever since; spur of the moment in most things we do, helter-skelter in many ways, uneven at best, but it has worked well enough that we are still together. Every man should be as lucky as I.
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The previous summer, I purchased an engagement ring that sported a very small diamond, which she accepted along with my awkward proposal. No, I did no get down on one knee to ask her to marry me. However it was done, she was agreeable, but her folks sure were not. No way were they going to allow a country bumpkin to wed their little girl. They did everything they could do to dissuade Carolyn from becoming my Mrs., including having other boys over to dinner on nights they new she had a date with me. They once called the law on me for stopping if front of their house. Their harassment almost worked, too; we actually broke up more than once in the ensuing year due to their meddling which I thought Carolyn sometimes enjoyed; the other guys coming over in particular.
We finally set a date for our elopement, and on my first day of vacation from work I picked her up at the curb in front of her house (by then I was not allowed in the house) and off we went across the mountains into North Carolina; her excuse to her parents was that we were going to a park in Virginia for the day. We drove to Burnsville in Yancey County, located the courthouse and and asked what all we had to do to get married there. It was as simple as getting a blood test, buying a license, and procuring a minister or Justice of the Peace to say the words and make it official. One other thing; both parties had to be 18 years of age. Friends back home had already told me the folks in Burnsville were not sticklers about that particular law if we told them that Carolyn's birth certificate was lost and all we had was a family bible with her birth date recorded therein but we forgot to bring it along, they would overlook such a trivial requirement. The court clerk had gone through this whole procedure many times before, and handed us a card with all the things we needed to do and where to do them and all the related costs.
We left the old courthouse and drove straight to the little clinic and asked to see a doctor, and about twenty minutes later we had our blood drawn and were on our way to lunch while waiting for the results of the test. I was wearing a neat yellow shirt, and managed to spill a huge drop of ketchup on the front of it while dining on a burger and fries; I was then and am still a klutz.
At 2:00pm, we picked up our test results and drove back to the courthouse and bought a license. The clerk asked if we wanted to be married right away and we darn sure did want to do so. She asked if we preferred a minister or JP to do the honors, and we agreed that either would be fine. She dialed the telephone and said something to someone on the other end, and in a few minutes the JP came in. He was an old man, short in stature and very slim with a great disposition and a face which beamed a permanent, weathered smile. He was Justice Angel, and he was an angel of a man. The clerk and another courthouse worker were our witnesses, and in a few minutes Mr. Angel did his part, we did ours, I paid him $10, and we were on our way to Gatlinburg to spend the night.
I was running out of money, so the next morning we returned to my parents house where we would be living for awhile. Carolyn's mom was having a fit. Not only had we gone against her wishes, but it was also her birthday and she did not like her present which consisted of a brand new, disobedient son-in-law. She and Carolyn did not speak to each other for several weeks afterward, but her mom finally accepted the fact her daughter was married, although it took her many years to accept her new family member, if she ever did fully accept me. Carolyn's dad was not so hardened in his heart as was her mom, and welcomed me to the family.
So goes the story of our wedding day, and our marriage has been much the same ever since; spur of the moment in most things we do, helter-skelter in many ways, uneven at best, but it has worked well enough that we are still together. Every man should be as lucky as I.
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