I'll walk beside you through the world today
While dreams and songs and flowers bless your way
I'll look into your eyes and hold your hand
I'll walk beside you through the golden land
--"I'll Walk Beside You" (Traditional)
While dreams and songs and flowers bless your way
I'll look into your eyes and hold your hand
I'll walk beside you through the golden land
--"I'll Walk Beside You" (Traditional)
An Anniversary Story, told by my mom...
A native of New Jersey, I grew up in Lawrenceville, just south of Princeton. I went to Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey) to study nursing. On graduating, four of my friends convinced me to move to Maryland with them to work for a year at Johns Hopkins Hospital. It was to be a good line item on our new résumés. Fran, Melany, Judy, Jackie and myself all started working at Johns Hopkins in July/August 1974. I shared an apartment in northeast Baltimore with Judy in the same apartment building with Melany and Fran. Our friend Jackie moved to Glen Burnie.
After about a year, Fran met and started dating her future husband, Ray. They introduced Will, a friend of Ray's, to his future wife and my roommate, Judy. John and Will shared an apartment. Judy and Will introduced John to me in May 1975. Melany continued to date her New Jersey boyfriend Lenny. They introduced Lenny's brother Richie to his future wife, Jackie. It is all quite the tangled web of friends.
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Melany moved back to New Jersey and married Lenny in October 1975. They both retired in 2011 and now live in South Carolina. Judy and Will married in February 1976 and lived in Harford County before moving to Virginia and eventually settled in Lima, Ohio. John and I dated for several months. One evening in October, 10/17/1975, John came over to our apartment and asked if I wanted to go shopping. Then he surprised me by saying he was thinking of looking for something special, like an engagement ring! It did not take long to say YES! We planned for a Spring wedding, and were married the following year, May 15, 1976. We moved to and still live in Reisterstown.
Fran and Ray married in June 1976 and moved to Severn, Maryland. Sadly, Ray passed away from a heart problem in 1995. Jackie went to University of Delaware for grad school, and Jackie and Richie were married in September 1977. They now live in northeast Pennsylvania. The five of us still see each other regularly and have always been close friends. We were a bunch a friends who married friends. Two of us, Fran and myself, who went to work at Hopkins for a "year" have now completed 40 years there. I retired in October 2014. Fran continues to work there. You may say it's been a "long and wonderful year!"
John and I have two beautiful daughters. The girls grew up with the sons of John's close friend Gerry and his wife Linda. Lesley followed our history. Gerry and Linda's sons introduced Lesley to their high school friend, Steve. Lesley and Steve were married in 2008 and live in Hanover, Pennsylvania. They have a daughter, Avalyn, who will soon be three years old. They are expecting a son any day now!
John is one of seven children and I am one of five children. We are blessed with a wonderful family and extended family, many nieces and nephews, and now many great-nieces and great-nephews. We thank God every day for all our blessings.
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| Fran, Melany, Angela & Jackie |
5/15/2016 So here we are, one year later. Today is our 40th Wedding Anniversary.
ReplyDeleteUpdate:
Sadly, I have to add that our dear friend Lenny passed away in March 2016. We all miss him very much. We keep in touch with Melany regularly and plan a visit to South Carolina next month.
On the happy side, our grandson Wyatt arrived on our 39th Anniversary. We will be celebrating Wyatt's 1st Birthday today. He joins our granddaughter Avalyn, who will be 4 yrs old on July 1st. We continue to thank God every day that we are blessed with so many wonderful family and friends.