A Memorable Pizza

So many of my memories seem to be tied to food, or what we had to eat at the time 'X' happened! I still remember that we had a pizza for brunch exactly 37 years ago. It was the day we got married in an elopement, so it is kind of hard to forget!

Sketch done by a friend after the fact

We got up early on Friday the 13th, and went for walk in the local nature reserve, casually and informally dressed; Dale barefoot and in short pants. Afterwards, we stopped in at a lawyer's office to draw up a marriage contract, and drove down to the city of Durban to book an appointment at the Registry Office for a marriage license. There was a time slot available in a short while, but not with enough time to drive home and change into less casual clothes (not that we'd selected anything special ahead of time, anyway!), so we decided to buy a pizza at a beachfront restaurant in Durban, S.A. to pass the time.

It meant we'd have to 'make do' and improvise for our ceremony - Dale was able to find a pair of 'emergency' sandals he always kept in the back of his car to make him respectable enough for this occasion. I was wearing a knee length skirt and sweatshirt with squirrels emblazoned across the front, and a pair of sandals. There were no pictures, no witnesses, no rings, no wedding cake, no first dance. It was scary doing something so ... unconventional, but also very exhilarating! But we did it, and have lived to tell the tale.

To celebrate having been married more than half our lives, we ate frozen pizzas for dinner. Very nostalgic. I also baked a cake, slathered with strawberry jam and whipped cream through the middle, and dusted with powdered sugar on top.

I remember my parents' celebration of their 25th wedding anniversary - we all thought it was such a big deal (And now here we are, with 12 years more than that under our belts! How on earth did that happen?). We took them to a portrait studio to have some professional photos taken - my Mom had her hair 'done' specially for the shoot, and my Dad donned a smart suit & tie instead of his usual greasy overalls. They were more dressed up for their 25th wedding anniversary portraits than we were for our actual wedding!