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Wedding Anniversary – 32 years together


Well today is a very special day – it is our wedding anniversary. Mary and I have been happily together for 32 years and were engaged for about 3 years before that! So its kind of a landmark day!!! I just wanted to mark this special day by taking a few moments to thank Mary for her loyalty and for being not only my wife but “bestest” companion all these years.

From my point of view it’s been a wonderful time with so many special memories to reflect on! We have shared many experiences ranging from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows – that is what life is made up of after all.

I remember our first date as if it was yesterday! There is a story to tell – but not here 😉 The notable thing is that I had ‘fancied’ Mary for a couple of years when I would have seen here at the annual Church Youth Christmas parties. Mary was from Peterhead and I was from Fraserburgh and we attended each others respective church parties. The young folk in the church did this on mass – they were great times 😉 I however thought that she was much older then me ;-)!!!!! Actually, she is about 6 months younger – I thought that it was inappropriate for a loon ( term for boy in Fraserburgh) to go out with a quine ( term for girl ) who was older ( old fashioned idea really! )

In any case when I discovered that she might be younger than me, it was all downhill from there on!!!! We dated for the first time and never looked back since then. We have had so many good times together – too many to recount!

We married in Peterhead on the 8th July 1977 and moved into our one bedroom flat in Aberdeen. After two further years of study ( I was the student and Mary was the bread winner) we then moved to the Scottish Borders where we lived in Tweedbank for 10 years when I was working at a school there as a “Techie Teacher”. Our family started whilst there when we had out first of three children – Fiona – at who’s wedding the above photo was taken. Linda and Philip followed in due course too!!! Philip the youngest is now almost 20 – now that is scary!!!!.

It is amazing to reflect over all these years and to appreciate that love really does grow stronger as the years go by. On the occasion of our first wedding anniversary I gave Mary a gold ingot – the type you wear around your neck. I had the following bible text engraved on the back of it.

Ruth Chapter 1 Vs 16 which says “for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God”

This was representative of my commitment to Mary as my life partner. And this feeling still stands today – we have been so fortunate to have enjoyed so many favours over the years in terms of the opportunities that have come our way! But one thing is certain and that is that we have been blessed in ways that we could not have predicted and teh good time have certainly out weighed the bad times! I thank God for being our compass and guide at all times and in particular for bringing us together all those years ago! It certainly was love at first sight for me and that love is stronger today that is was then 😉

So the last 32 have been better than I could have imagined 😉 and I now look forward to many more years together – God willing of course.

Luv you more each day Mary – James xx