LMAC has started the fall season with some exciting innovations. Our weekly contest is now a monthly contest, and we accept multiple entries throughout the month.
The picture below is the template for this month's contest. Entries are accepted through November 4, end of the day.
We also now have another exciting opportunity for Hiveans to join in the fun. Every third Thursday we will begin a Themed Collage Contest. This week, we began with an evocative theme: Good Old Friends.
Of course I wanted to jump in the activity, although I do not compete because I'm on the jury that selects winners.
I wondered for a moment about what might be interesting to feature in this collage. Then I thought, almost right away, of my best friend: my husband.
We met at work, JFK Airport (hence the airplane in my collage). It was the spring of '71. I had been working there for a year when my husband came. The picture below is the woman my husband met in 1971. That's me, on the job.
Me at Work, Winter of '70
He used to give me a ride home when we were on a late shift together, because I didn't have a car and took the bus to work. He drove a white LeMans sedan with a black top, a car he purchased with money he saved while he was deployed in Vietnam.
Summer of '72 we had our first date. He picked me up at my apartment in Queens. When we were walking to his car, I tripped and ripped the knee of my pants.
We went to Belmont Racetrack after that (hence the racehorse in my collage). He knew everything about racetrack culture. I knew nothing. We had led very different lives.
Belmont Racetrack, Where We Had Our First Date
Credit: dfmock. 2005. Public domain
We were engaged almost right away and married in the spring of '73. It was a quiet church wedding at the Guardian Angel Cathedral in Las Vegas, Nevada. I remember we picked up our license at City Hall on a Monday morning and got married at about noon that day.
My husband gave the priest $50.
Guardian Angel Cathedral
Credit Carol M. Highsmith. Public domain.
We stayed at the Dunes Hotel, which was demolished in 1993 and was eventually replaced by the Bellagio. The Dunes represented the old Las Vegas, and the Bellagio represented the new Las Vegas.
A colleague at work told us his brother ran the baccarat room at the Dunes, and the brother could get us a discount rate on a room. He also said his brother played golf with Frank Sinatra.
The Dunes was quite a big deal back then, and the baccarat room was where all the 'whales' played. The brother looked as though he walked out of a James Bond movie. He was very nice to us, a young couple from back home.
Dunes Hotel in 1978
Credit: daves_archive1. Used under CC 2.0 license
In summer of '74 my son was born. We bought a house a month after his birth. Here is a picture of the house the way it looked in 2022. Over the years we had added siding, a new roof, new windows some shrubs, and a few other refinements, but little else. It was pretty much the way we bought it.
I stopped working after my kids were born. My husband stayed at the airport job for the rest of his career. When I returned to the job market I looked for employment in a different field.
Note the rabbits in the front yard and the cats on the walk. The rabbits were wild. The cats were ferals that took up residence at our home. We had many ferals that stayed with us over the years.
The signs in front of the bushes were congratulatory for my granddaughter's graduation. We waited until she graduated from high school to move.
We moved into our new house just last year. I'm pretty sure (hope) it is the last house we will ever own--my best friend and I.
The Collage
The base picture of the collage is of my husband and me about six years ago. We were on vacation at a lake resort. My daughter captured this picture.
I cropped the photo and ran it through a Lunapic filter.
Then I added the airplane, courtesy of @amilcar, from the LMAC Image Gallery, LIL.
The racehorse I borrowed from Pixabay. Thank you VarnaFolio.
The chapel is derived from a digital drawing I made several years ago for a writing project.
The baby pictures are my babies--my son, my daughter and my granddaughter.
The two houses in the collage are the old house, shown earlier in this blog, and the new house, shown below.
The sun was contributed by @darquin3 to the LIL Gallery. Thank you @darguin3.
I ran all the elements through the same Lunapic filter to give the collage a vintage look. The sun was augmented with a light effect from GIMP.
GIMP, Paint, and Paint 3D were used to create the collage.
LIL Gallery
This is an image resource that has been derived exclusively from Hive contributors. Anyone on Hive may contribute to the Gallery and anyone on Hive may borrow from it. Details are provided in this blog by @shaka.
It was fun making this collage. I invite everyone to join in. There are so many opportunities in the LMAC community: freestyle collages are always welcome, in addition to entries in our two contests.
Thank you for reading my blog. Health and peace to all my readers.
Such a romantic tale would not be out of place between the covers of a Mills and Boon. It moved even this retiring unsociable, and discontent person. Your collage is the perfect accompaniment, the two of you walking life's road together... though the floating baby heads are a tad Monty Pythonesque:)
😄
I realized that after I published it. Not everything works out the way we think it will, does it?
Can't be more unsociable than I am. I am not a misanthrope, but socializing is just not my thing. As a matter of fact, when my husband came to work at the airport, I was insisting everyone call me by my last name, just to keep them all at arm's length. For a while I wore a fake engagement ring so men would 'leave me alone'. How did we get together? I don't know. Long shifts, late a night? 😂
I have no idea why I’m crying, but I am! I’m sorry @agmoore because I know that you intended this wistfully beautiful piece to create “smiles”…so, I’m smiling down on you and your best friend, but, still, there are tears🥰🥰🥰😢😢🥰😢🥰😁❤️❤️❤️🥂🍹
Hello dear friend, @itsostylish
My mother-in-law used to say that she didn't know how we found each other, but in all the world we could never have found mates more suited. Two unusual people, who somehow clicked. Very different from each other and yet similar in really important ways.
I'm still surprised, after all these years, that he wanted to marry me, and that he loves me. It's a nice surprise :)
Thank you for the kindest, sweetest comment.
Un amigo de casi toda tu vida, un matrimonio de décadas, que lindo; Saludos amiga @agmoore❤️🤗
Hola amiga @inessita,
Thank you for your lovely comment🌹 It is very much appreciated.
The story of how you and your husband met is a beautiful love story. Meeting as co-workers, first date, engagement and raising a wonderful family together. I'm not surprised he's your best friend. You both are lucky to have each other. I wish you both the best now you're at the golden years of your lives.
The collages are good so are the pictures. Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend.
Thank you for that lovely comment. I don't think of it as a love, story, but I guess it is. Everything happened so naturally. Nothing idyllic about it. We just seem to have reached this point in our lives with a certain inevitability. Over the years there were bumps, but we just kept at it. Here we are, on the road together, still. Truly good friends.
Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.
First meetings are always memorable and it's great to hear your story and pray that you'll be happy together for the rest of your lives.
You are very kind, @djbravo. I appreciate your wishes and hope also we will be together for the rest of our lives.
Nervous much?😂😂
This was a heartwarming read and an even more interesting collage...
Your ingeniousness with these photoeditor apps are wonderful
Hello my young friend.
Perhaps. Also, I never wore my eyeglasses in those days and the sidewalk was broken😅 One of the things he did for me very soon was persuade me to get contact lenses. A very practical man😇
Thanks for reading and commenting. Hope you are not stressing out at school too much these days.
I'm on holidays so I can finally relax a bit, at least before I go for internships 😂
Wow that is such a nice story and a derived collage from it! I felt like watching a film strip passing by with all the sublime moments. It made me to realize how our lives are precious and I should protect and provide the loveful sides of it and learn from, leave behind and step forward from the negative parts. Thanks for such an inspiring collage @agmoore. It is truly full of enlived.
Thank you for that lovely comment, @m1alsan.
You capture the essence of what I tried to do. There were rocky moments 😇 and years that were hard. But somehow it always seemed there was a glue that kept us in line.
We are lucky we got beyond the rough patches and let the good parts prevail.
Thanks for reading. Hope you are having a great week.
Thank you @agmoore, I hope you are having great week as well.
This is such a beautiful post. You two were very lucky to find each other ❤️
I feel inspired.
Yes, I think so. I'm an odd bird, and he has his own peculiarities. The things that tie us together are stronger it seems than what would pull us apart.
I am grateful.
Thank you very much for that lovely comment, my friend @marlyncabrera
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