When Wishes Come True For You: MY PARENT'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Quite an interesting story, my parents 50th anniversary party. Well, to begin the story, we have to go way back in time. There was a Kentucky legend that my mother heard from a teacher when she was growing up. It was said that if you kept count of every white horse that you saw, that when you had counted one hundred of them, the first boy you saw would be the boy that you would marry. Some years later my mother began keeping a count. She was in the car with her mother, on her way home from an outing, when she saw, and counted, her 100th white horse. Being nervous about what boy she might see on the way home, she slouched down in the back seat, not looking out. Her mother made a stop along the way, but my mother thought that they were home and had stopped in front of their house, so she sat up. And there, outside the Eagle's Nest, ( a hang out for all the kids), stood the boy that she would marry.

It wasn't that they had never met before. In fact, they were actually friends. They first met when my mother was three years old and my father was seven, when they lived in the same neighborhood. My mother and her friends would play in the cemetery behind her house. My father and his friends would play there also. The boys would stand up on the gate and jump down and scare the girls as they came in to play there. Within that same year though, when my father was still seven years old, he moved away with his family.

Many years later my mother and father lived in the same area again, and my father would have occasion to pass by my mother's house on his way somewhere. He would notice her playing in the yard, but never spoke to her, and she never noticed him. Eventually their paths would cross again, during my mother's senior year in high school. My dad had been held back in school a few times and eventually dropped out, but now he had decided to go back to get his diploma. He lacked one credit, English, but upon seeing my mother again, and finding out what classes she was taking, he decided to add a few more to his schedule, and signed up to be in the same ones as her. He would often tease her and make fun of the little stick legs she used to have. They became good friends though, and even had an occasional so-called date, but my mother still only thought of him as a good friend. So seeing him that day in front of the Eagle's Nest, she never really thought about him really being the boy that she would marry.

Eventually a love did form, and they began to talk of a future marriage. My mother had an outfit that she bought, that she would wear when that day came. One day my father had to come into town where my mother was living, while she was attending nursing school. He had decided that they would elope, but she didn't know it. He asked her to go to Jeffersonville, Indiana with him, since they had the day together. He told her to change into something else so that she would look nice (her still not knowing they would be married that day). He was dressed in a suit himself, but that wasn't unusual for him, for he wore them often. My mother changed into a navy dress, white heels and gloves,( but not the dress she planned to marry in). She was very tired that day because she had worked all night and then taken exams that morning. It was also an extremely hot day. She still had another year to go to finish school and since you were not allowed to be married in nurses training, she wasn't expecting to be married that day. They drove into town and my father stopped by a jewelry store to get a ring. My mother, being very shy, would not go inside with him. When he came out of the store and told her of his plan, she told him that she wasn't really in agreement with marrying right then. Well the song,,"It's Now or Never", was playing on the radio. He told her to listen to the words of the song playing and he said, "it's now or never". So with that, they stopped by the home of the Justice of the Peace,and with the man's wife, standing by their side as the only witness, they were married. My father gave my mother a silver dollar as a wedding present. It was all he had left in his pocket after stopping for gas that day. He told her to keep it, and that if she did, that they would never be broke during their married life and that they would always have money enough. My mother had to be back at school for work, that same night.

So here is where the amazing part of the story comes in! We had a small family party at my home for my parent's on their 50th (yes,they really were mean't be be)! We had the song, 'It's now or never', playing in the background. My mother was telling her grandchildren the story of how they were married and about the white horse legend. All of a sudden a person on a white horse dashed by in the back field behind my home! On rare occasions people will ride a horse back there, but I had never seen a white one! It was not a plan, we did not know the person riding the horse, and no one had planned it as a surprise for them. It just happened! We all got so excited that we ran out in the back yard, and when the woman rode by again, we called her over and told her the story of the white horse. The woman, being amazed herself, let my parent's take a picture beside the horse. It was the only white horse my parent's had ever seen here , and they haven't seen one since!

Here is the white horse in the backyard

My parent's, and the owner, by the white horse

Anniversary card that my brother made

The inside of the anniversary card - My mother and father's picture and their four children

Standing by the cake

The cake we made

Cutting the cake (never had a real wedding cake on their wedding day)

My mom is now working on a book about her life
and she titled it none other than "White Horses"

My dad on their Senior High School trip.
One of those dates he had with my mom was
during this trip. He took her to the
movies, and he fell asleep during the movie!