My husband Neil, and I have been married for 25 years which is the silver anniversary – yes I definitely see the silver in our hair. We are not fighting people and the most we have done over the past few years is give the cold shoulder and act very grumpy. He is a quiet man and very rarely talks a lot, he is also quietly spoken. Me on the other hand – I can talk a lot and I do talk very loudly (I get louder if I am excited about something). If I could have R5 for every time that Neil had told me that I need to lower my voice ….. We have often finished each others sentences or one of us will say something which we were both thinking about. We both have a silly sense of humour and we laugh often.
We met at work – I was the receptionist and he was the service director at that time. We clicked (probably the best word I can give) and we had so much to talk about and were at ease with each other. I turned 21 and 3 days after my birthday (13 May) Neil asked me to marry him – on the beach in Umhloti. On the Sunday we excitedly told the pastor that we were engaged and could he please conduct the ceremony. Pastor Eric Tocknell consulted his diary and said “how’s the 13 of August?” 3 months till the wedding!! We said yes – MADNESS!
I still don’t know how we managed to organise a wedding in less than 3 months. It was definitely with the help of friends and family. A friend’s Mom helped to organise the church which was the Lutheran Church in Assagay, Hillcrest. Neil and I looked for a reception venue and eventually found Valley View Restaurant in Drummond (it is called Intaba View now). My Mom made my wedding dress, bridesmaid dress for my sister, her own dress, my Grandmother’s dress and my going away outfit. Neil and I found a photographer and a videographer (I must get the wedding video transferred to DVD disc). We found an available florist and a friend of my Mom’s organised the wedding cake.
The owner of Valley View Restaurant was simply amazing. He planned the whole meal (buffet style) and even decorated the tables for us. One of the desserts was Malva Pudding and I have the recipe which is made often. Neil set up a sound system so that we could have music. It was a beautiful and amazing day.
After the reception we drove to Granny Mouse Country House & Spa in the Midlands for the first night of our honeymoon. We had to make a brief stop on the way to pull off toilet paper that was hampering Neil’s driving. The staff at Granny Mouse kindly cleaned our car before we left the next day. We then spent a week at the Cavern in the Drakensberg. We have been back to Granny Mouse numerous times over the years (just recently to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary) but we have yet to return to the Cavern.
So 25 years later…… we have 2 children. Caleb is 21 and Laura is 18. We have 2 dogs (Bolt and Axel) and 2 dwarf hamsters (Gibby and Snowflake). We have lived in Pinetown KZN, Strand (Caleb was born at the Mediclinic) and Edgemead in Cape Town and Kloof KZN.
Looking forward to the next 25 years.
Happy silver anniversary! xxx