FIREWORKS....AND A VERY LONG MARRIAGE.... A Re-Post

I FIRST POSTED THIS THREE YEARS AGO AND IT PROVED TO BE THE SINGLE MOST POPULAR POST I HAVE EVER DONE......IT NOW WOULD HAVE BEEN 76 YEARS OF MARRIAGE AND IF YOU MISSED IT THE FIRST TIME I HOPE YOU ENJOYING READING ABOUT MY CRAZY PARENTS...
73 Years ago on the 4th. of July Millie and Siggy tied the knot.....That would be the Folks and as Millie would always love to say....

"We got married on the 4th of July and there have been fireworks ever since"

Ofcourse she didn't mean that in a good way....

But you would never know that by these pictures.....

I think you will agree that they were quite the handsome couple back in 1936.....

They were known around town as the George Burns and Gracie Allen of Rahway.....

My father said very little and smoked a big cigar....

My mother.....well, was Gracie Allen's twin sister....

All my high school friends even called her Gracie...

She more often then not said and did things that just made you say...."What?"

And he was her straight man...

Every time she would see this picture she would comment that the flowers she was carrying looked like the bush was pulled right out of the ground......

Did she save that beautiful dress.......just incase maybe she had a daughter.....ofcourse not...

She cut it up and made a Christening dress for her niece....

There were years of complaints that Grammy gave her only $2.00 for wedding shoes and she could barely walk in them because they hurt so bad......

Oh....Wonderful wedding memories.....

And people wonder where I get my complaining "skills" from!!

Millie also complained that they never went anywhere.....Every time I turned around they were dressed up and ready to go partying with friends and neighbors....

Here they are in the 1950's getting ready to go to a dinner dance as a benefit for the hospital where our next door neighbor was a physician.....This was a yearly big event.....

They took trips all the time even though Siggy had a modest income....he made the most of it and we always had a nice new car...preferably a Chevy Impala.....burgundy please.....
We went on lots of trips as kids but once I became a teen and could stay home by myself they kicked up the traveling into high gear...... Thanks Guys.....

They went on more cruises then the cast of The Love Boat!!
Here they are dis-embarking from their favorite ship the Homeric....
Dad loved Robert Mitchum movies and this picture of him always reminded me of Mitchums character in "Cape Fear".... I think it's the hat.
The couple in front were their travel companions and the parents of my sister-in-law Carol.
Isn't it great when the in-laws get along so well that they can vacation together....
Mom and Dad must have gone on over a dozen cruises over the years....
But to hear Millie talk they never left Rahway....

Let's discuss the trips to Hawaii.....Lost count on that front.....
Here they are back in 1983 on a layover at San Francisco airport.....
See that gold sweater on the Siggy....It was more like a body tattoo...
Maybe it was his lucky flying sweater but he wore it every time they took a trip...
Then ofcourse let's not forget "Vegas".....

Millie got into a shouting match with Jerry Vale at Caesar's Palace and while going up the escalator at Las Vegas airport she spotted Rodney Dangerfield coming down the other side..

Having no shame she managed to yell over at him that she too "Got no Respect"
Another trip to the Big Island......or where ever the hell "Diamond Head" is....
They talked about those trips for years and how you could see the mountain from their hotel room....
and no matter where they traveled my mother would always and I mean always run into someone she knew.....
In the lobby of the hotel in Hawaii she saw a friend of mine who was there on his honeymoon...
she even saw someone in Spain that she knew.....
And let's discuss Spain......
They vacationed there at a condo for a month.....which was really cool....and then one day in the mail I get a postcard that simply said....

"Today we took the Bus to Africa".......

I still shake my head just thinking about that one.......I told you she was just like Gracie Allen...

Another cruise.....a dashing looking couple....
My mother was like me.....or I guess I'm just like her....She would talk to just about anybody that looked at her crooked so she was in all her glory for seven days on the high seas with nothing but strangers to meet...

Here they are on their 50th...
just taking it easy in Fort Lauderdale...

And here is the last picture I have of them together.....It was my nephews wedding and Dad passed away just four months later.....This was the last time I saw him..I have to say my biggest regret in my. life was at this wedding. The band played "Daddy's Little Girl" while the bride danced with her father. Siggy wanted me to get up and dance and I thought it was inappropriate at the time since it was the "brides dance" I said no and then later found out he paid the band $10.00 to play it for me....That still haunts me since I never saw him again.......But I have to say that he had a ball dancing with all the other ladies including daughter who was 17 at the time....She adored him.

Oh...I didn't mention...they were terrific dancers...On Saturday nights the stereo would get turned up and the rugs rolled back and the dancing began....

I owe my love of Big Band music to my father....

One of my favorite pictures....we call this
"Weekend at Bernies".....

Siggy passed away in 1994........ his ashes were scattered over Barnaget Bay on Long Beach Island.....Millie died in 2002 and her ashes were also scattered off the lighthouse.....I like to think that Dad had atleast 8 years of peace and quite.......

Happy Anniversary Millie and Sig and I'm sure they are back together bickering everyday and loving every minute of it!
And Please.....No comments like.....
"The Nut doesn't fall far from the tree"................