The other day I was browsing through my Facebook feed and saw a friend from high school had posted pictures of his wedding back in the mid-‘70s. It reminded me of my own to Hubby #1. We were so young. I haven’t seen the pictures for many years. I gave the wedding album to Daughter #1 a long, long time ago, but I can assure you…it was a quite simple affair.
I wore a dress I had made for a dance program in my senior year. It was white dotted Swiss with long, sheer sleeves and an empire waist. My Maid of Honor was my best friend, Martha. She wore my formal from the Sweetheart dance I went to in the spring before graduation. My parents didn’t have money for a big wedding. And big weddings weren’t de rigueur…not in my circles, anyway.
One of Mom’s friends made little almond tea cookies. We borrowed the punch bowl and made the usual “punch” with orange sherbet, ginger ale, and cranberry juice. There were a couple bowls of mixed nuts and the obligatory wedding cake. Quite a modest spread compared to today’s over-the-top extravaganza. The average price for a wedding this year will run a whopping $29,000! I’ll bet we didn’t spend $200, and that included flowers and decorations.
I have had three weddings since then. My most extravagant was with Mr. Virgo because that’s what he did for a living…hospitality management. We got married in my favorite restaurant and had a sit down brunch for 75 people. It was a lot fun and including the photographer, we probably spent $8,000. Of course, we highly expected it to be my last wedding so we went all out. And we know how that ended.
If you’ve been around a while, you know Mr. FixIt and I got married in the near field here at Marshmallow Ranch. (I used to refer to our place as The Ponderosa, but Marshmallow Ranch gives credence to the grounds.) We rented a tent. We bought bales of hay for the seating and covered the bales with a collection of old quilts. We had a two tiered cake made. I made my bouquet and Mr. FixIt’s boutonniere with silk flowers from Michael’s along with decorating the tent with twinkle lights, balloons, baskets of mums and assorted pumpkins. I smoked four pork butts and served pulled pork sandwiches, chips, and soda. Pretty simple stuff and we maybe spent $2500.
Simplicity. There’s something to be said for it. Gone are the days when I lived the affluent life. And honestly…I am quite happy living this simple country life with my Mr. FixIt. As with most of the people I know, our retirement income is pretty well fixed so we are careful with our money. And we are creative in ways to bring more in while we have the wherewithal to do so.
You don’t have to live on five acres to have a peaceful country life. I’ve lived every bit as much a country life on a main thoroughfare in Denver. “Country live” is as much a state of mind as it is mowing and tending to a large parcel of land, gardens, and animals. I stumbled across a trove of Mother Earth News Magazines back in in the late ‘70s. I canned our food, baked our bread, cultured our yogurt, made grape nuts from scratch and raised a garden in the side yard. I sewed clothes for my daughter and myself. AND worked full time putting Hubby #2 through medical school.
I took the weekend off from my studio where I’ve been working on my new project. I needed a good break. I didn’t feel well Friday night wasn’t sure I’d make it to our youngest great grandson’s 1st birthday party yesterday, but a good night’s sleep and a hot shower and I was ready to go. We all had a great time at the party at one of the fast food restaurants with a playground for the kids. The adults got to visit while the littles ran around like their hair was on fire…whooping and hollering.
I’ve ended up being exactly where I want to be.
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““Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.”
Matthew 6:19-21 MSG