While Googling my name, I discovered that Laurie Wells is also a Broadway star for Mamma Mia. I was quite curious about the movie since I shared a little bit of fame in a indirect way...tsk tsk.
So, I went last night and it was quite fun. I had no idea just how much fun. I won't spoil it and tell you what it was about. I had to go it alone as my "other half" wouldn't be caught dead going to such a film and took a jaunt to Gotham City to check out the events transpiring there. It was so odd, going to a movie alone but I tried it anyhow. An interesting Sat. nite. If you like singing and dancing and beautiful scenery, try it.

July 15th

Christania was quite a place. In July of 1973 I relished the summer days after a very hard winter and a bleak one at that. Winters in Denmark can be very cold but I think it was especially hard in Christania that year. Hippyism was at it's peak and that old army base housed so many kids from all over Europe that were there to find the Ultimate high or "whatever". You could find anything there. It was an exciting place to be and never boring. It was my home that year.

My typical day would start out by waking in the icy cold and trudging my way out of an old army barracks we renamed "New Jerusalem", to the kitchen where I prepared breakfast. I had to pilfer a saw to slice enough rock hard black Danish bread for 35 people in time for breakfast. I wore boots in case I would ever drop a loaf on my foot. My breakfast entertainment and distraction. was one of the neighbors that would zip past my kitchen window riding a bicycle stark naked. He came every morning no matter how cold, his long blond hair streaming in the wind. I then had to get over to the underground bunker where we kept the rest of our food under a heavy chain, lock and key. I had to check out the day's lunch and dinner possibilities and haul the fixings over to the kitchen. I specialized in "one pot stews" with an amazing assortment of vegetables.

After getting that done and taking nearly an hour to chew my piece of black bread, we had our "get together" time and devotions and planned the day- which consisted of taking care of the other inhabitants of Christania, from old Nehemiah, the founder, to just about anybody we could find that might be sick, on a bad trip or having another crisis of some sort. This included cleaning the communal toilets after we chipped off the icicles and other stuff. Back then I think the hippies thot that disinfectant and cleanliness of any sort, were signs of everything bad. People lived wherever they could and sometimes I felt like I was going through smoky opium dens and tunnels in ancient China. It was all so foreign and there were some people there that were in a very bad state. It was especially serious when it was real cold as people would bundle up and just space out in a stupor and would be in danger of freezing in some little corner. Things were better when spring rolled around. Everything just seemed brighter and a lot more hopeful. There were even flowers around the lake! Also, the toilets were icicle free!
I wasn't really in Christania all that long- just about a year. It just seemed very long as so much happened there and each day was so full. I lived a lifetime that year.
On July 15th of 1973, I got married there. I married a man,Abib was his name back then. He had such a bushy beard that I don't think I really knew what he looked like under it all. I just knew that he was the one I loved and wanted to spend my life with. We got married by the lake there in Christania and then went back to the barracks to celebrate with everyone- including a group of Egyptian students my husband met out witnessing. They were very poor but wanted so bad to give us a wedding gift. It was at a solemn moment in the wedding celebration where we were getting a talk about the "responsibilities of marriage" when they jumped up and did an Arabic "fertility" dance. I didn't know there was such a thing. It caught us all by surprise but was very entertaining.

Well, it was quite a day and night. We took off by ferry to Sweden to spend a bit of time away from it all. I had so much to look forward to but I missed Christania and all it's craziness and zany life. I don't think I ever went back after that more than just a short time. It will always be a part of my heart I will never forget.
I am happy to have started my journey of married life there. Somehow it made it a bit more special as even with all it's trying times, I had many dear friends there and everyday we touched people's lives- people that were at the life's bottom and reaching out. Our life together has been a colorful one also, full of exciting and growing moments. It was a marriage started in the midst of adversity and the Lord has helped us weather life's storms together and keep going through it all.
July 15th is a pretty good day....................I got a dozen of perfect red roses and a card that said such sweet things that it made me cry. Marriage is really worth it all! It's a beautiful life of love.

Just a quick note. James worked so hard on this project for me. I actually built and painted this puppy kennel (bottom half). It was so wobbly that he fixed that problem and proceeded to add a floor and a roof. I was just puttering around but he's a professional. It touched my heart that he did it during a visit when he didn't have to really have a working vacation.

That little fur ball is to one day be a mighty Standard poodle....small beginnings. greater ends.