A note to blog readers:

This weekend I’ll be attending the 50^th reunion of my Wheaton graduating class – 1967! I won’t be able to blog for a few days, but before I go, I want to bring this bride and groom to THE thrilling moment they’ve been anticipating for so many months – in room 334 at The Drake Hotel in Chicago….

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November 30, 1969… 2:00 AM

At long last Nate and I were on our honeymoon, and oh how we had looked forward to this day! Both of us were anticipating the fun of our first sex, but like the cherry on a sundae, we wanted to save the best for last.

In a silly little ceremony we pulled our night clothes out of our luggage and laid them on the bed, taking a picture. Nate’s PJs were still in their plastic package, and although my gauzy nightie was very pretty, I knew it was scratchy at the seams. We decided to ignore formality and go with comfort.

Nate had thought of everything and produced a bottle of wine, which had been chilling on ice. “I thought this might be a good idea,” he said. And of course it was. He got out of his jeans, and I put on my comfy old bathrobe.

The Drake had given us two glasses to go with the wine, and as we sipped, we talked over the weekend, beginning with Thanksgiving dinner. Moving through each day, hour by hour, we laughed and compared our impressions. What stood out to each of us? What was funny? Surprising? How did we feel when we were being joined in marriage?

Relaxing there in the living room of our suite, I hung on Nate’s every word and couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

Suddenly he lifted his hand and said, “Hey, look-it! A wedding ring!” All I could do was dive in his direction and cover his face with kisses.

As the wine warmed us, our giggling increased, and anticipation started to build. We actually began talking about our first love-making experience and what the next moments would be like. We had read books and knew that the first time didn’t always turn out well. We shared our expectations of each other and ourselves, but agreed that with us, it was going to be nothing but pure pleasure.

Then, all of a sudden, it was as if we ran out of things to say… and we were there. Nate took my hand, and we moved into the bedroom. As we did, I remembered the night weeks ago at our apartment in Champaign when we’d gotten a bit too passionate and had had trouble stopping. “This time,” I said, “there’ll be no stopping us!”

And with that, we proceeded to lose our virginity – the gift we’d both worked so hard to save for each other on this very important day…

…pure pleasure indeed.

“Go ahead… Drink your wine with a happy heart, for God approves of this! Live happily with the woman you love.” (Ecclesiastes 9:7,9)