The Newlywed Game

Yes, I did indeed get married---again, on May 30, 2008. My husband is David John Donnelly, so I'm back to an Irish surname. We met about 5 years ago via match.com. When we met, he lived within 3 miles of my home in Yarmouth.

We discovered a lot of coincidences in our lives. David grew up in Fairfield, ME. When I first met him, I lived at Fairfield Court. His mother's maiden name is Smith, and my maiden name was Smith. We both have 3 grown children. Even more amazing is that through my geneology research, I discovered that both our mother's families came from Bradford, Yorkshire, England. In fact, in the 1901 English census, his relatives and mine lived 2 doors apart on High St. in Great Horton, Bradford, England.
His dad's family immigrated from Ireland, and we all know, Grampa Smith (alias McCarthy/Shannahan) was Irish by proxy.

Dave's Grampa Smith left him a tape of ditty type songs he'd sing to Dave as a boy. My Grampa Smith also made a tape recording of his songs and dance steps and loved the old ditty songs, like, "In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree", "Harrigan", and "Daisy".

We both went to the University of Maine in Orono, Me, and both have master's degrees.

Dave has 3 daughters. They are: Ericka, age 36, a nurse. She has two boys age 5 and 7; Emily, age 31, an actress and film producer in LA; and Elizabeth, age 24, a professional photographer. Ericka lives right near Cheryl in Falmouth and Elizabeth also lives nearby. Dave's daughter Emily used to live and work in Scottsdale, AZ: very near my old home there.

As you know, my two oldest children, Kevin and Kelly, are in AZ. Katy is in Maine.
Kevin, almost 25, is working as a kitchen manager/chef in a newly opened restaurant in Surprise, AZ. He and his girlfiend, Kym, had a baby boy on July 18, 2008. He is named James Patrick Cagney. So, yes, I'm a Granny now!!

Kelly's doing very well. She is now 23 and lives in Phoenix. 2 years ago she finished her HS GED and took the college entrance exams. She tested so well that she was awarded a Presidential Scholarship which pays her full tuition, room and board for four years of college. She's already finished her first two years of college, and is now working on her third at ASU. She is studying to become a pharmacist or MD.

Katy, age 20, lives happily with her boyfriend of two years, Shay. They have both worked at Target for 2 1/2 years. She wants to start some college night courses.


Dave and I decided to get married quietly. A freind of mine at work is a notary, so after work on Friday,May 30, 2008, she and her husband, and Dave and I met at Mom's at Chandler's Wharf under the guise of wanting to "show Mom my engagement ring.". We really fooled Mom, who became a witness at our small ceremony held at the end of the pier. We didn't want her to be forwarned as she'd feel she had to get all decked out, clean the house and make treats. Katy and Shay were in attendence, as was Dave's daughter, Elizabeth, who was also our photographer.

We didn't invite anyone else because we didn't want people feeling they had to get us gifts or put on a party. We just wanted to get married. We did call the sisters that evening to alert the presses of our marriage.

We didn't take a honeymoon then. Dave works as the houskeeping manager at the Hilton Downtown Waterfront Hotel in Portland. He's really busy in the summer. I work at Unum as a Long Term Disability Claims Specialist.

Last week we did go off for what Nancy calls our "Honeymoon." We took a week long cruise on the Norwegian Dream from Boston through New England and Canada. It was my first cruise. We stopped at St. John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Sydney in Cape Brittan; and Bar Harbor in Maine.

Well, now I have blogged. I am in the process of scanning to image many of my Mom and Dad's old photos and letters. I will share these and my geneology finds in the future. My love to all.

Andi Donnelly