Today is my 35th wedding anniversary. I hope you will indulge me as I use this forum to honor my husband.
Larry and I met in 1977 at Dowling College in Oakdale, NY. I had just turned 17, he was 19, and fate and my high school guidance counselor brought us together.
I planned on graduating high school early but my parents refused to give me permission. I was already a year ahead in school, and my parents didn’t want me leaving home that young. My senior year I had two classes, Driver’s Ed and gym. And Driver’s Ed was only one semester. So they acquiesced and let me graduate mid-year. Because it was all so last minute, and my parents didn’t want me going too far, my guidance counselor, Pat Confrey, helped get me into Dowling College, a small, private college on Long Island. Mr. Confrey refereed lacrosse games there and had a good relationship with the school.
Larry and I hooked up a month later and have been together ever since. He played lacrosse (the team was undefeated that year) so I got to thank my old guidance counselor at one of the games.
I truly believe that Larry and I were destined to be together. There are all these weird coincidences that have run through our lives.
We both had planned on transferring to a school in Florida. I had to wait a year, per parental decree, so
approx. 1979
he waited for me. He went to the Florida Institute of Technology in Jensen Beach, and I headed for the University of Miami. We planned our schedules so that we never had classes on Friday. I didn’t have a car so he would drive down every Thursday night to pick me up and bring me back to Jensen Beach, where he shared a house with our closest friends from Dowling. Then on Sunday night he would drive me back to Miami. We are talking about a little more than 4 hours driving every Friday and again on Sunday. Every week.
Larry attended junior high school with my step-sister on my father’s side. He was a year ahead of Alan, my step-brother on my mother’s side, in high school, and had been to his house and had met my stepfather way before I ever did. They had mutual friends and still do to this day.
When I was in junior high, I used to hang out at Salisbury Park on Long Island. Larry worked there summers on the grounds crew. Did I ever see him? Who knows.
I grew up in Merrick, NY and my best friend’s parents owned a fabric store in Plainview. Occasionally I went with her to the store. Larry grew up in Plainview and his mother was quite the seamstress, so she was often in that store and so was he. I can’t help but wonder if we were ever there at the same time.
There are more coincidences, but you get the idea.
Our wedding was beautiful but almost didn’t happen. Not because of us or our relationship, but because of my crazy father. you’ll have to wait for the book to get all the juicy details!
Larry has always supported and encouraged me in whatever I wanted to do. When I started my own website back in the Geocities days, he bought me my own domain. I was in my 40’s when I decided to go back and finish college and he was thrilled for me. When I decided to go to library school at age 50, he was there for me, picking up the slack at home, driving me across the state when I had an occasional class in Tampa. When I was invited to speak at various conferences around the country, he was driving me to the airport and even came along on some trips.
Larry has stood by me and given me strength when I needed it most. When our son was born 6 weeks premature and I was freaking out about bringing home a 4 lb. baby on a heart monitor, he calmed me down and made me feel like we would be just fine. And we were. And when I couldn’t get pregnant the second time, and would burst into tears whenever I spotted a baby, he comforted me. And when we needed to go through all those infertility tests, and our crappy insurance didn’t cover any of it, somehow we managed. Eventually we had a beautiful daughter and our family was complete.
Larry has always made me feel special, and beautiful, and loved. He’s surprisingly romantic, caring, thoughtful and understanding. He’s an awe-inspiring father, and an outstanding son. I couldn’t ask for a better husband. I can only wish for thirty-five more years with this man.
Posted by Stacy Alesi 
My heart just broke when I heard about the Orlando shootings. I was at work when I got a news alert on my phone. Luckily, the library wasn’t open yet so I was able to jump online to find out what was going on. I sat at the desk just crying until I finally had to turn it off and open the library.
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