Louise and Louies love story sounds like it was taken from a Harry Chapin song. It began a long time ago. He was a taxi cab driver. She was selling magazines with a traveling road crew. Their eyes locked on the sidewalk at Ocean and Pine in downtown Long Beach. He asked her for her number and where she was staying. Just before she hit the road back east with the other magazine sellers, Louie knocked on her hotel room door. She answered it with curlers in her hair. Undaunted, Louie asked her to take a drive with him. They exchanged phone calls and love letters until Louise decided to join Louie back in California. It was kismet, and 18 months later they became Mr. and Mrs. Rivera. To celebrate the start of their 40th year of marriage, they wanted to renew their vows on the very spot where they first met on the street near the intersection of Ocean and Pine, right next to where the Renaissance Hotel now stands. Early this sunny afternoon, the couple arrived on scene, appropriately enough, by taxi! With their grown children and a cadre of their closest friends gathered on the downtown sidewalk, I led Louise and Louie through the vow renewal and the installation of new gold jeweled wedding bands to add to their original wedding rings. In the planning process, Louise expressed concern that the police might come by and stop the ceremony. I reassured her that wasnt going to happen. In fact, as I had finished sharing their story, a Long Beach police officer walked by, smiled, and clapped for them both! Louise and Louie released some monarch butterflies, a few of which did not want to fly away but stick around, as you can see from the photo. They took and ran with my idea of a Honeymoon Tip Bucket to fit the street panhandler vibe! I shared about Louie and Louises love and commitment, and how theyve overcome difficult stretches because they had resolved from the very beginning not to ever quit on each other. I even had the pleasure of sharing a long-held secret that back in the 70s one night after a streaker came into the Bobs Big Boy where Louise was waitressing, the two of them were inspired to shed their clothes and streak down the beach one very foggy night. Hey, after 40 years, why not bear it all, so to speak?! LOL Mr. and Mrs. Rivera, congratulations on being an example of whats good and right in marriage. It was an honor to be with you and your very excited and supportive friends and family this afternoon!
Posted on: Fri, 07 Nov 2014 00:13:34 +0000
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