Celebrating Thirty-two Years
August 9, 2014 by margaretsmn
Ruth Ayres invites us the celebrate each week. Click over to her site Discover. Play. Build. to read more celebrations.
August 7, 1982
On August 7, 1982, I was not even 21 yet. But I made a very wise and wonderful decision to marry my best friend. We celebrated 32 years by dancing to our favorite Zydeco band, Geno Delafose and the French Rockin Boogie. They were playing in New Orleans at the Rock N Bowl. Yes, you read that right, Rock and Bowl. Only in New Orleans can you bowl and dance to Zydeco. Read about the interesting history of the place here.
I thought the band started at 7 PM. I don’t know why I thought that and having not verified it, we showed up at the Rock n Bowl at five minutes to 7. With our hands stamped, we were told that the music started at 8:30. Jeff and I walked next door to another longtime New Orleans establishment, Ye Ole College Inn. I’ve never had a bad meal there. We had a delicious meal and a drink (or two), so we were ready for dancing the night away. Geno has more stamina than we do, so we rarely see the tip of his hat and his farewell. But we made it until 11:30, dancing our last dance to “Make the Dust Fly.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fU_Fa2qybU
We took our time getting up on Friday morning. We had a nice lunch and visit with my cousin and his wife. They are renovating an old four-plex in Uptown making it into a single family home. My cousin is an architect. I am fascinated by his choices. The door to the back porch is an automatic garage door. He has salvaged tin from an old shed to make a tin wall. He is also using an old gurney to make a rolling island in the kitchen. Regretfully, I didn’t take any pictures. I just listened to him talk passionately about keeping the integrity of the materials he is using. I celebrate his endeavor.
One of our favorite bars is The Napoleon House, known for its Pim’s Cup, a delicious refreshing gin-based drink. When we were dating long ago at LSU, we would drive to NOLA after a game and hang out at The Napoleon House, a unique bar/restaurant with crumbling concrete walls, cheerful male waiters most of whom have a handle-bar mustache, and loud classical music.
Our celebration continues today.
Napoleon House
Reflections on the Teche 
Congratulations on 32 years! In today’s world, that is an amazing and beautiful accomplishment! I hope your celebration not only continues today, but for many, many more years!
What a beautiful post! Love you & miss you. Jen
Come stay with us! http://www.bonneterrecottage.com
“Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.”
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I’m so glad you’re extending the celebration and having a good time visiting old memories, too, Margaret. I’ve still never been to New Orleans, & yet it fascinates me with its history. Love hearing about your cousin’s renovation, too. How creative it seems.
How fun! Congratulations! I’ve never been to New Orleans, but my husband and I are planning a trip there in Oct. I can’t wait!
Happy Anniversary! How exciting!
Happy Anniversary!!! 32 years!! Congratulations!!!! I love reading about New Orleans and all of the interesting things there are to do there…I have to get there some day!
Congratulations! I am so glad you included the video. I smiled through the whole thing. It looks very fun. I am glad you were able to stretch out your celebration. Your cousin’s renovations sound fascinating. I always love being around creative people like that. One of these days, I am going to make it to New Orleans. It always looks like such a fun place.
Congratulations, Margaret! My husband and I are celebrating our 23rd anniversary this year. I also wonder how our long-ago selves — barely adults — knew that being married to one another would work out. It’s a leap of faith followed by commitment, right?
Congratulations on 23 years. The toughest times were raising 3 teenage girls. Now that they are awesome young women, we have to pinch ourselves. Did we really do that? Commitment and faith and a lot of talking.