Ed + Patty = Love

As we walked through the Cumberland County Covered Bridge in Greenup, Illinois, I noticed a message scratched into the oak beams: “Emily + Jason Forever”. The “Forever” must have been short lived because the name Jason was barely visible beneath the Wite-Out painted over it. I suspect Emily had come back to edit the lovers commitment. If it had been “Ed + Patty = Love” pressed into the wood, the names would be aging.

Ed and I met for the first time on Sunday, May 7, 1995 at the Mountain View Inn in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. We arranged our breakfast date after searching The Network profiles for compatible people. Ed peeked from behind his shield of the Sunday Tribune-Review when I walked into the Mountain View lobby. He put the paper down, so he must have like the woman he saw. After a “get acquainted” breakfast, I impulsively hopped on the back of Ed’s Gold Wing motorcycle for a ride to Lynn Run State Park in Rector. I’ve been riding with him even since that day – first the bike, then a Miata sports car, next an MCI “house-on-wheels”, and now our luxury Prevost bus conversion motorhome.

We annually celebrate May 7^th just as if it were a wedding anniversary – we were married on October 3, 1997. No Wite-Out necessary.

May 7, 2008

Special thanks to The Covered Bridge Kids from Lake Land College who shared our visit at the bridge. We are especially grateful to Jaclyn Swigert for snapping multiple photos of Ed and I to commemorate the day.