Our 50th anniversary photo shoot. First of all, I hooted with the owls the night before and could not soar with the eagles that morning. Wayne went to bed with the chickens and was crowing at just past 6AM for me to "get up and make myself pretty." After groaning and moaning for a while I decided to get up, dress and get with the trowel and facial putty. I could not locate my favorite lipstick that I misplaced after our trip to Pennsylvania, so with some luck, I reamed out a very empty tube that had been melted. My “funny color” tinted hair wanted to split down the middle, so I awakened Beth, who was getting another few winks of shuteye, for her hair spray to force my unruly mop of hair to do as I wanted. I could not find my slip to wear with my too sheer dress, so I settled for an old one that I found.

I decided it was time to wrestle with putting on my panty hose before Wayne came in. He would think what I was doing was some type of a new sport. This time, I thought I would be smarter than I had been before and take my rings off first. A few times, I have spent extreme effort putting on those dreaded pantyhose. After I was spent from exhaustion with the effort it took to master the feat, I found my ring had made a hole in a conspicuous spot. I was proud that I had gotten the hose on before Wayne came back from chores without even one snag. I finished dressing with little muss to my “starched” hair only to find two mismatched shoes.

I spent a few minutes in the dark bedroom before finding the mates. Our light switch had burned out the night before in the laundry where I keep most of my clothes. I grumbled as I groped around in dark places trying to locate a flashlight that the kids had overlooked. Finally, I got all of Wayne's things laid out. Have you ever had a mate who hangs the hangers backward and overlapping the two on both sides? Just try to untangle that mess when you are out of sorts anyway!! I know I bent a few hangers in the process and cared less. I located his ties way back into my side of the closet, one not so neatly folded in his jacket pocket. I wanted his attire to match my mauve dress just a little. I found a clip on tie with mauve and hues of blue that would match his pink shirt and my dress.

After Wayne was half dressed and had his pants on, I discovered that my rings that I so smartly laid on the bed had been jiggled out of place with my writhing around trying to put on my hose. Guess what? My anniversary ring was not among the scattered three I found. I started to panic, but knew the ring just HAD to be near. One flashlight battery had run down, so I used the dimly lit one and yelled for my savior (Beth) to help me. She and I were scrambling all over looking for it when Wayne stopped dressing and joined the search. Beth pulled all kinds of “Dust Bunnies” out from under the bed and literally crawled around on the floor searching everywhere. We broadened our search to further away from the bed… still no ring. I was to a panic stage, because I wanted to wear it for the pictures. Then I had a crazy idea that perhaps it had gotten into my panty hose. I started patting my "bod" all over, and Beth joined in too. I decided that was the only place yet to look. I raised up my dress and said, "Beth, you take a look." She burst out laughing because the ring was inside my hose, shining in all its glory. Beth maneuvered it out, laughing all of the time.

Wayne went back to dressing with the usual not being able to button his shirt or putting on his tie. I finally got the top button through his new shirt buttonhole. By the time Wayne got dressed, we had 32 minutes to go 31 miles to Lynn’s Photo Shop. You can guess when Wayne asked who was driving; I dove for the drivers’ seat. No 40 MPH getting there on time. When we got half way to our destination, it started pouring down rain. I was frantic by now. What was I to use as a rain bonnet to keep my hair dry? Then, when we got to Lynn’s place there was no place to park. I drove around the block and found one in the handicap parking at the far west end. Of course, the wind tried to uproot my hair, but with three layers of spray, it held. Lynn sat Wayne on a stool and told me to get close to him. If he had looked, how could he have been so dumb? I told him I had things that prevented getting close. He chuckled and said "well, place Wayne’s arm between your cleavage." It worked. Many funny comments were made between Lynn and I making Wayne laugh a lot.

When we finished the photo shoot, it was almost noon. Of course, Wayne was hungry and said "where are we going to eat?" I quipped "I do not know, but dressed as we are, I know where we are NOT going, McDonalds or KFC." I chose the VIP Club. It was a fun day after all. Wayne told everyone within earshot that we were going to celebrate our 50th in November. What a day!