It was a cold rainy Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, 30 years ago that our journey began. We got married at Saint Patrick’s in Norristown. It was a night wedding. My boss at IKEA, made one of the young accountants dress up in the IKEA blue moose mascot outfit and wait in the parking lot with a six pack of beer. As we came down the aisle – husband and wife – the blue moose greeted us and everyone else leaving the church.
The reception was what you would expect with two hundred Irish and Italians in one hall. Copious amounts of alcohol and great food. Dani’s sister videotaped the entire wedding, with running commentary. She even followed her into the ladies room. We watched it a couple months ago, and it is still hilarious.
We’ve raised three fine young men. We’ve withstood many trials and tribulations, just like anyone else who has been married for 30 years. I was a lucky guy to have met her in Avalon, NJ in 1988. I can’t believe she’s put up with my crotchety demeanor for all these years, but I guess she doesn’t mind. She looks as beautiful today as she did on that altar in 1990. Hopefully, we’ll have 30 more years together.
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Who would have thought? 2 white, moral people contributing to the world.
Congratulations to Admin and Avalon. Not many marriages can withstand the onslaught of this world.
Happy anniversary Team Q. It’ll be 45 for me in April. Where’d the time go? I wouldn’t change a single thing. I’ll bet you agree.
! These claims are disputed by multiple sources. Learn more about how difficult crotchety Irish men can be here
Dat was Funny!! But then I realized it was a Jim Quinn post. Thank God for the Irish for he gave them all a lust for a better life and a will to achieve it. I remain deeply indebted to you for some advice Christmas/ New Year 2005/6. Thank you and yes now at peace with the coming storm. Some music for her.
What a great way to start the week.
Congrats to you both.
May a six pack of Moosehead be in your (near) future.
Congrats Jim. It’s a testimony that I wish more would acknowledge and honor. I envy you.
Congrats,as you say may you have many decades ahead in your future together!
OK,enough with the good news,now back to the world burning articles!
Congratulations Jim to you and Avalon.
Throughout the trials and tribulations, your love for each other has endured.
You should both be proud.
Nothing spells success in life like a solid marriage and good kids.
Congratulations to your entire family, and enjoy your day together!
I have 3 amazing children, the 4th isn’t so amazing (numbers 1, 3 & 4 aka amazing, number 2, well!). To paraphrase Meatloaf, “3 outta 4 ain’t bad!”
I am the lucky recipient of 9 grandchildren (7 girls and 2 boys) and 3 great grandsons (Dustin, Jeremiah and the newest addition Wilder)! Woo Hoo!
True story. Congrats, Jim.
Congrats to both of you!!!!
Just Sayin’
Congrats and here’s to 30 years more ?.
Congratulations and enjoy the holiday! My wife and I celebrated our 58th anniversary in September and are looking forward to getting to sixty in two more years. Live long, enjoy life, and – as we used to say in my high school latin class – ‘illigitemis non carborundum’ – don’t let the bastards grind you down.
Dang! You are old! I just want to congratulate you for living long enough to claim 58 years of marriage!
Congratulations!!! Good to see some cheer in this turbulent world. We will hit 49 years in March! Growing older is not for sissies, but it certainly helps to do it with someone you love and support that gives the same back to you.
Congrats Jim !
Congrats to the two of you, Jim! My 30yr anniversary is tomorrow. I just want to say (in case my wife reads this), my wife is still hot,hot,HOT!
Great CYA, Gomer…
Thanks, None Ya
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Quinn. You are a shining example to your children and to those who know you. Faithfulness is not common in these days of marriage for the wrong reasons and quickie divorce.
Happy Anniversary God Bless you both
WOW, time flies when you’re being a responsible adult in love. Congratulations on finding love and success.
Congrats from another 30+year veteran. And cheers to 30 more.
Best wishes and congratulations Jim. I never made 30 years; got to 25 before she had had enough and then spent 10 years enjoying bachelorhood. After that I met my lovely South African beauty in Cape Town and 17 years later we are as happy now as when first married. Second time around has been a good one for me but I’m not sure if I will last another 13 years or if indeed does this world.
Sometimes you can be as good and stalwart and committed as is possible and it’s not enough. One person can’t stay married on their own, no matter how hard they try.
What is the sound of one hand clapping?
been with one woman for the last 25 years……….best 3 years of my life.
Congratulations, Peter! Well, for the second time around anyway..
Thanks DinCO – perhaps “once bitten, twice shy” shouldn’t always apply in love. 🙂
Congratulations Peter. You have been a good friend for me.
I only made it to twelve years, but as someone else said here – it takes more than one person to make a marriage.
She wanted to be a free spirit again so…
Congrates to you and the Mrs.
Thanks Steve, and you to me likewise – we do have fun don’t we? I learned a long time ago that I cannot own anyone – I have to allow another to ‘be’ and move on in love – that way it works. 🙂
Happy Anniversary to the Mighty Quinn and his Missus!
Happy 30th anniversary to you and your wife!
The Missus and I celebrated 45 years of marriage this past August 14th.
Congrats to you both, Admin!
Congratulations to you both. Good job.
Lucky for your children that you have this
anniversary. Good luck in all you do.
Happy Anniversary!! We just passed our 41st wedding anniversary. It’s amazing how a happily married couple can still see each other as we did those many years ago. The wrinkles soften to our eyes. The jowls don’t seem to hang quite as loose as they do. And we still see the person we’ve loved all these years…. with even more affection. It’s the ever-growing level of affection that continues to amaze me. How could I possibly love her more today than I did back then?! But I do. Trials and tribulations; we’ve had our share, but together we got through them all. Even if in some instances we lost, we did it together.
Again, Happy Anniversary. Here’s to many more!
Congratulations, Jim! And, Avalon, of course. It takes two.
Dear Dani and Jim,
The both of you have meant the world to me these past many years. Thank you for everything, and may the Good Lord watch over you and bless you in all that you do.
=================
Regarding that email I sent you a few days ago. Everything has been resolved. Mom is at a Rehab Center not even one mile from the hospital. Called them today so I can visit her …. “no”, … cuz she is in quarantine for the next two weeks. Assholes!!!! No, she does not have Covid. But, that’s now standard protocol when a person is transferred from a hospital. Thanks, again to both of you for your advice.
Your BFF
Stucky
So glad things are working out, Stuck
Congratulations and best wishes for the future.
Congratulations to y’all!
Did ya know? Each day of the year has a playing card associated with it –in the case of your wedding, it’s the 10 of Hearts. What does that mean? Well, you can check out the meaning associated with that particular card here:
tl;dr– It’s the card of Happiness through social (relationship) success
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Congrats.
Tried posting a music vid, but YT is behaving badly.
Buble’s “Everything”, dedicated to you two.
David Gray’s “You’re The World To Me” is another good one.
Cheers.
Hope this helps lager,
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Thanks, Mach.
‘preciate it.
I knew the demographics on TBP were on the old side, but geez, is there anyone under 70 commenting?
I’m surprised we don’t have more regulars keeling over after a nasty comment exchange.
Thanks for all the well wishes. Headed to the shore this weekend to celebrate, unless Murphy and Wolf arrest us for driving our car across state lines.
“Demographics on.. the old side.”
Says the old guy. 🙂
Congrats on 30-and-counting. I never made it past 6, which was really remarkable considering I was in the military and we hardly saw each other for 3 of the 6 years. A neglected seed will not grow.
HAVE A DRINK ON ME! *cues the AC/DC*
46
45! A young Gen Xer.
Congrats to you both.
An older friend of mine with a Vaudevillian brand of humor would always make the same joke:
“My wife and I have been happily married for 7 years…we’ve actually been married for a total of 35 years.”
58 years, 11 months and 3 weeks. I still have 1 more year before I cross the River Styx of 60.
The 30 blocks of squalor AND 30 years of sacramental marriage?
Congrats on surviving the former, and thriving throughout the latter.
Best wishes to you and all of your family, fellow patriarch.
would have been a great title…
44 and been around since 2010ish. I’ve posted a little under different names. For those in this sphere, my dog was Baxter.
Our wedding song. She had it picked out before she met me.
For the record, some us are still south of 70 a ways.
Back then the mortgage on my first house was 11% but I still had 10 grand in a CD earning 9 %. She was fresh out of college so I spent all I had liquid: $6k cash on the wedding for 150+ people which included a drive-to honeymoon cuz I couldn’t afford to fly at the time. It was simple but elegant. Our parents wanted to help out but we were proud ones. Although Dad did spring for the rehearsal dinner. The service was great and the reception was a blast. Several years ago I had the VHS converted to a DVD; now a digital record of good times and laugh-out-loud hilarity. Still remember that first dance.
Congratulations to you, Massa Quinn…..the next ten are going to be the hardest.
“Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
Ecc. 4:11,12
annuit coeptis novus ordo seclorum <<—–====
Just before the plandemic began, a young couple in their mid twenties moved bought the house two doors south. They have three sons, the oldest barely 7. Shortly after, a new cat was roaming about, and one day he was taking a whoopin from an area Tom, which caught me by surprise, and I ran the stray tom off.
Some weeks passed, and this new cat came visiting a little more. We learned that he had been an inside cat, but would not stop marking his new territory, so they put him outside…..then one day he got in my garage and wouldn't come out. The young wife could not pick him up, but he let me ? Turns out, he had an abscessed bone in his front leg, surgery……..and a week nursing it.
Then one day, this little fella, with no front claws and no balls, brought me a dead garter snake-just a small one, but he repeated it 7 SEVEN more times….and when the Tom came back around, well, he ended up in a live trap and took a ride to the country (along with two other cats, one mother raccoon and her two young uns over a couple weeks time)
I was never a cat person….never. But now he comes down to get something to eat everyday, and has got several cozy little corners to sleep in when it gets cold…..
It's a five year old blonde cat named IKEA
Damn! 30 years, congratulations!!!
Not only is it rare in today’s world to be married that long, it’s rare to get married at all it would seem, let alone raise offspring.
My grandpa told me when he was first married they would have sex all the time, but when they got past 30 years together all they had was oral sex.
When they passed each other in the hall Grandma would say, “Fuck you” and grandpa would reply, “Fuck you too.”
Happy anniversary brother. It is a rare thing these days to have lasting, strong relationships.
Way to go J & A. And many more.
Congrats.
p.s. thanks
Here’s to 30 more years. God bless you both. The part about “copious amounts of alcohol.”, those were the days, huh, Jim
Congrats Admin! You Irish really punch above your weight!
Avalon – another thirty years and maybe you can mould him into something resembling civilized!
All the best to you both.
35yrs . For some of us our word is our bond. No stronger bond than family. Till death us do part.
Happy for you Jim
Congratulations are in order!
And, here’s to another thirty.
Happy anniversary and congratulations to Mr Quinn and his bride.
May your sons one day realize how large an impact their father had on the thousands of people who have read your work. May they stand in pride that their father used his gifts to write damn difficult things to inspire so many.
May Avalon know that so many of us can imagine how much time and energy Jim spent on this great blog, where he perhaps could have spent a bit more family time.
May you and yours be blessed with all good things, Mr Quinn, of the foremost is love.
Happy anniversary Admin! Hope you got to relive y0ur honeymoon that night if you know what I mean 😉
Happy Anniversary! And many, many more. Friday will be number 37 for me and my lovely and gracious boss lady.
Admin,
Congratulations to you and your bride on the milestone!
Three sons are a wonderful living legacy…and I have no doubt they are straight and true arrows you are your wife raised and released to make their own way.
My wife of 44 years, our visiting daughter, her husband, their 9 year old son, and my wife’s 87 year old Father are all sleeping after a day of much laughing, games, food, and fun…as I’m typing in my warm congratulations to you…they remind me to count my blessings with four generations under the roof in this wild ride we are all on.
As a long time reader and most infrequent commenter, I will be presumptuous and speak for the many like me, while they remain silent, still want to congratulate you and your bride on your 30th wedding anniversary. We have come to know a bit about you from your writings and what you have created in this wild, free wheeling and inner core convicting little blog. Thank you for sharing a personal celebration so that we can return our feelings of joy and express our happiness for you and Avalon.
A big thank you is also appropriate to your wife for allowing (even encouraging) you to share your thoughts and create a blog community. A man who has a loving wife can do more in his life than he could ever do alone. Jim, you have done great things thus far, and have influenced for the better the lives of many, more than you will ever know. Here is to 30 more years of love and marriage, and hopefully many grandchildren.
happy anniversary,admin–here’s to 30 more–
judging from the photos you’ve put up over the years it seems safe to say that you got the better deal–
tell her that in her next life not to be in such a hurry to get married–maybe she could end up with a bl,or even a bb if she likes cats–
have a happy weekend–
What a great post! Sincerest well wishes from across the river. Hopefully you both are able to relax this weekend & Happy thanksgiving.