Eunie and I met the week before the first day of classes at college. It was 1962. JFK was president. The world was a calmer place, except for the pesky Russians. School started in September. By December, I’d asked Eunie to marry me. She turned me down. I believe that she thought that I was insane.

This is how we looked in Springfield at her parents’ house in 1963:

That Christmas, I decided that I wanted to send cards to my friends showing what a lucky guy I was. It was pretty presumptuous, considering there was no “Yes” yet on the marriage issue. Eunie’s mother was disconcerted that her daughter was sending Christmas cards picturing her being fondled by a madman:

Or, rather, (worse?) a mad teenager.

The Big Yes finally came through and in June of 1964 this child bride was wed to the crazy person:

I like to call this shot “Children Getting Married”:

Settling into married life was surprisingly easy. I think that we had so much fun playing at being all grown up that we missed a lot of the troubles that were lurking in the corners. Fortunately, Eunie was the typical young woman – way ahead of the average male her age in terms of maturity. I was bouncing off the walls while she made a home for us.

Here’s another shot taken at her sister’s house:

Note particularly the cowboy boots. I’d never been anywhere near a horse in my life, but I needed those cowboy boots.

Playing adult was fun. Somehow, I missed the actual transition and my development stopped somewhere in my early twenties. I sometimes seriously contemplate how I got so old. I don’t feel  65. This is how I still look inside:

We were ambitious spelunkers. I can remember many cold winter weekends when we escaped the weather to explore the caves of southern Indiana.

Because, after all these years, she’s still so nice to me and still my best friend, I’m plagiarising here for your entertainment E. E. Cummings famously erotic poem She Being Brand. (complete with Cummings’ original idiosyncratic punctuation and phrasing)

she being Brand

-new;and you
know consequently a
little stiff i was
careful of her and(having

thoroughly oiled the universal
joint tested my gas felt of
her radiator made sure her springs were O.

K.)i went right to it flooded-the-carburetor cranked her

up,slipped the
clutch(and then somehow got into reverse she
kicked what
the hell)next
minute i was back in neutral tried and

again slo-wly;bare,ly nudg. ing(my

lev-er Right-
oh and her gears being in
A 1 shape passed
from low through
second-in-to-high like
greasedlightning)just as we turned the corner of Divinity

avenue i touched the accelerator and give

her the juice,good

(it

was the first ride and believe i we was
happy to see how nice she acted right up to
the last minute coming back down by the Public
Gardens i slammed on

the
internalexpanding
&
externalcontracting
brakes Bothatonce and

brought allofher tremB
-ling
to a:dead.

stand-
;Still)

Enough said.