The "Marvelous Journey" Story

Recent self-portraiture of my wife and me

It was an ordinary day.  Just came back from having our evening meal at Ciro's Italian Bistro which is located at Richmond Square right off the Fruitville Pike in Lancaster, PA.  Talked to Tony, the owner of the bistro, about how great our meal was this evening.  Neat little restaurant which Carol and I have visited in the past.  They naturally feature Italian choices and specialize in freshly made gelato which they have in a large display case at the rear of the restaurant.  My boss at the framing gallery where I work, Keith, gave me a gift card this past Christmas which I used to pay for the meal.  A few days ago I saw an article in the local newspaper about Ciro's which talked about a dish that is literally a product of "la famiglia."  Dish is called Pasta di Lila and is named after Tony's daughter, who is a waitress in the restaurant.  Tony's mother, Giovanna, who also works at the restaurant but had gone home before I got to meet her, used to make the special dish just for her granddaughter Lila.  Dish features penne pasta flavorfully accented with cauliflower, olive oil and garlic.  

Sounded fantastic, but my favorite Ravioli Quattro Formaggi which is blended four cheese ravioli with sautéed shrimp, garlic and broccoli rabe pulled me away from the Pasta di Lila.  I don't care for the broccoli rabe, but the waitress always makes sure they replace it with asparagus.  The meal sounds great, but not as great as when you actually taste it.  The butter sauce that accompanies it is to die for and certainly can't be heart healthy.  But, that's OK for just this evening, since Carol and I are at Ciro's to celebrate our 46th anniversary.  Seems like only yesterday we were standing in front of Rev. Batchelder and saying "I do" to each other.  Been a happy and marvelous journey since June 17th, 1967.  Couple of houses, three children, numerous pets, dozen of automobiles and sharing of our life's wishes and dreams together.  Wouldn't have wanted it any other way.  Well, we returned home and Carol asked me if I could find an 8 1/2" x 11" frame for a certificate she was working on at her job.  I dared to search through our crawl space in a spare bedroom and while searching for the frame found a framed piece that was given to us on Saturday, June 17, 1967.  Funny how things work out that way.  It was titled The Time Chronicle and gave headlines of the month such as: 6/2 - The FCC orders all radio and TV stations carrying advertising for cigarettes to warn of possible dangers; 6/12 Supreme Court rules unanimously that states could not legally bar marriages between whites and non-whites; and 6/21 - American medical Association liberalizes its policy on abortion, the first change by the group on this subject since 1871.  Other interesting things on the paper were Prices Then & Now: Loaf of bread was $0.22, Gallon of milk was $1.15, new Ford car was $2,724.00, gasoline was $0.33 a gallon, an average sized new home was $14,425.00, and the average annual income was $7,305.00.  Commodities were: Dow Jones was 879.10 (I found this hard to believe) and gold was $35.00 an ounce.  Winners In The Arts were: Song - Up, Up, and Away, Movie - In The Heat Of The Night. In Sports: World Series was won the previous summer by the St. Louis Cardinals, AJ Foyt won the Indy 500 with a speed of 115.2 MPH, Super Bowl was won by Green Bay, Stanley Cup was won by Montreal and the NBA champs were the Philadelphia 76ers.  And, finally in Politics: President was Lyndon B. Johnson and Vice President was Hubert H. Humphrey.  Kind of neat going back over all the events and happenings during the year we were married.  But, time goes on and we now have our 47th to look forward to next year.  Will we be back at Ciro's?  Probably!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.  PS - Carol had the Spaghetti Bolognese and she says she agrees with me about our marvelous journey together.  Thank goodness!!