Chapter 7 - Getting Married

Joann and I both believe that God chose each of us for each other.

"John Richard Bennett, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife"?
"Elizabeth Joann Barnett, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband"? My father continued, "With the power vested in me...".

We can't believe this day has really arrived. Joann has had so much help planning this day; her mother, my mother, her grandmother, her maid of honor. We almost don't remember our engagement party any more. I had gotten up early that day and ridden my bicycle from East Marion to Riverhead, a distance of about twenty-five miles either way, to pick up our rings from Havils Jewelers. Being excited about the day, I had forgotten to take my insulinˆ injection. The exercise kept me fine for several hours but my mind was wandering with the party that evening and I exacerbated the problem by not taking any tests. I was no longer taking pre supper insulinˆ and everybody started arriving. We sat down and ate a great meal before I started getting sick to my stomach. Rationalizing about my heavy exercise and the excitement, I finally took my urine test and it was 4+ with positive ketonesˆ . I still didn't realize I'd forgotten to take my shot. My folks called the ambulance around 9PM and I spent several days in the hospital. Joann and I believe we came awfully close to not getting married.

But the day was finally here. Joann's niece, Toby, was the flower girl and she really stole the show. All the way down the aisle she was flirting with my oldest brother Jim who was part of the wedding party. The Ladies Aid Society of the church prepared our reception. Don't even remember what they served, but everyone said it was a great reception. It was January the 4th, 1969. We were originally going to get married on January the 1st but it was in the middle of the week, so we chose the first Saturday. The weather was gorgeous until the start of the reception--other than being cold. Then it started snowing - heavy! When we left the church there was at least six inches of snow on the ground and visibility was getting bad.

Our destination was the Radisson Inn, outside of Honesdale, Pa. We were to stay two nights before registering at Cove Haven Lodge on Lake Wallenpaupack. After four hours of driving I was getting blurry eyed from the snow and we finally stopped at a Howard Johnson just into New Jersey. We were only half-way to our destination. Calling the Radisson, they understood our predicament and cancelled our first night's reservation at no cost. There was two feet of new snow on the ground in the morning and five degrees below zero when I tried to start the car. Not even a ticking sound.

Finding and calling a local garage on a Sunday took nearly an hour. They brought and installed the new battery but the mechanic took interest in the 'Just Married' sign attached to the back of the car. He told me to go inside and stay warm while he finished and then he'd come in and give me the bill. Once I was back inside, he simply drove away. The clerk at the desk asked what had happened and once I explained he handed me our bill. It was imprinted with "Paid In Full". I had not given him any money.

Arriving at Cove Haven, we found that because of the 'blizzard' lots of folks, other than the skiers, had cancelled their reservations. Our room was upgraded at no extra cost. Electrically controlled drapes covered the whole front wall of floor to ceiling windows. We had a sunken bath, a large living room with fireplace, and an elevated bedroom area surrounded by a wrought iron railing accessible from the living room via three stairs. I remember being in my birthday suit peeking between the drapes waiting for them to deliver our breakfast in bed. When I told Joann our meal was coming she toggled the rheostat that controlled the drapes and they began to open. You've never seen anyone run across the living room, high jump the railing and get back in bed faster than I did. "Joann, I'll remember this".

Once Joann and I were married we moved into a mobile home in Riverhead, N.Y. Noel was born there and during her infancy I was still working shifts. One night after leaving for work around 11:15 PM for the midnight shift, I realized I had forgotten my keys to the mobile home. Going back home, all the lights were off. I assumed Joann had gone into our bedroom and retired. The door was locked and she didn't answer. That late at night I really didn't want to start hollering or knocking any louder. Our next door neighbor spoke to me through his window saying he was calling Joann on the phone. Finally getting into the mobile home, we had to recall the police to say there was no intruder. It was nice to know we had caring neighbors.

Leaving Pennsylvania in 1965, we moved to East Marion, Long Island. Just prior to getting my driver's permit (remember I had all sorts of problems getting insurance), I had asked Joann to go out with me to the Riverhead Raceway for the stock car races—our first real date. My brother was home at the time, so he offered to drive. My sister decided to go with us as well. Pulling into Joann's parent's driveway, we waited for several minutes until Joann's Mom came out to say hello. It seemed that Joann had seen my sister and wasn't going to come out, thinking I had a second girl with me. After finally leaving for the races, we all had a good time.

The following summer Joann's Dad hired me and the first job he assigned me was to paint the trim of the second story windows on his house. The first three windows I was to paint were above a porch. Setting the ladder next to a small unique fern, I began climbing the ladder but dropped the gallon of paint. It tipped upside down and landed directly on top of the fern. I found out Joann's Dad had searched for over a year to find her this particular fern. The fern died. I still remember how horrible I felt seeing Joann's expression when she saw it. She married me anyway.

Whenever we go looking for plants I always look for this type of fern. After over thirty years of marriage I still haven't found one.

Ephesians 5:31-KJV For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.