Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to the United States! I love the Fourth of July - cookouts, fireworks, family. But, I love it for another reason. The Fourth of July is also my parents' wedding anniversary.

In 1953, my father was a reporter covering the Alabama legislature for the United Press. As he explains,

"I had checked that the legislature would be in recess the week after the Fourth of July and told Albert Boutwell, who was Alabama's Lieutenant Governor and Senate President, that I wanted to go on our honeymoon while the legislature was in recess. But then, surprising both of us, somebody called for a vote to recess the week before the 4th and be in session afterward."

"That's when Albert jumped up and said, 'Paul Wills is covering the legislature for the UP and plans to get married on the Fourth and they will be on their honeymoon the week after. Her mother won't let her go on their honeymoon before they are married so we have to recess the week after.' So, the recess and the honeymoon came the week after the Fourth."

Among my earliest memories of growing up in Tallahassee is watching the Fourth of July fireworks over Lake Ella. Every year, Mama and Daddy celebrated their anniversary with my brother and me, with a hot dog bought from a sidewalk vendor as their dinner. I thought it was perfect - and I think they did, too.

We celebrated my folks' 55th anniversary in Blake Hospital where my mother was being treated for leukemia. My brother and nephew were in town so we took pineapple upside-down cake and homemade ice cream to a hospital family room and had a party there. While it wasn't as perfect as other years, it was lots of fun. My mother had a special talent of making everything fun.

That was the last anniversary we all celebrated together. My mother passed away a few months later. This year, my husband, my father and my godfather (who was also their best man) will have a cookout and enjoy celebrating our country's 235th anniversary. But mostly, we will remember the even more special anniversary of Paul and Martee Wills, with thanks Lieutenant Governor Albert Boutwell.