Remember When?

This is a shorter one. Very little character development. I got the idea as my wife and I were going through old photos looking for our first batch to be sent away to be digitized along with some old Super 8 films. And no, my wife isn't the reason I wrote this, just my fevered brain in action.

Also, like most of my stories, there is no overt sex, especially any mention of anyone under the age of 18.

I was elbow deep in old photos that I was planning on sending to a local lab for digitizing when I came up with the perfect gift for my wife, our three kids, and our extended families next year when she and I celebrated twenty-five years of wedded bliss.

We had thousands of pictures from when we first met in grade school, right up through when we started dating in high school, on to college together, and then our married life. You would think that the pictures of when we were kids would still be with the respective parents but, no, Lizzie had asked for those when the kids were little so we had everything, now packed into these photo boxes I was elbow deep in.

Anyhow back to my idea. If I got all these photographs digitized I would have a huge collection to sort through and select a good number for a continuous slide show during our celebration. The kids could help as all three were local and it could be a surprise for my bride, Lizzie, short for Elizabeth.

I had put digitizing our photos for a long time as it was a daunting task, one that Lizzie had told me was my responsibility alone as she was too busy chasing kids, keeping house and also being the chief accountant at her business.

Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself before my ramblings get too far into the weeds. My name is Tracy Gold. I am forty-seven years old, my bride Lizzie is the same age. As I alluded earlier we grew up together, went to school together and entered adulthood and married life together. We are that couple, the one everyone else is jealous of. You know, the long term lovey-dovey sweet and sappy twosome that is always together at parties, seldom shop alone, attend all the kids' events. Yes, we are that couple, there is usually one in every group.

Lizzie isn't your drop dead gorgeous female, though. She is still slender but carries some extra weight from having three kids. She walks a lot, actually we walk a lot, as she drags me away from the snacks and the TV. It helps keep my weight from ballooning. Lizzie has deep brown hair that she keeps collar length. It curls nicely and fits the shape of her head. Her face is kind of plain but, even now, her skin is clear and without blemish and she only has a few wrinkles around her eyes. She agonizes when she finds a grey hair but she refuses to color it.

She has "B" or "C" cup breasts. I really don't know as I don't check the size of her brassieres. They are a nice handful but she claims they are starting to sag too much. Her waist has thickened a little from having kids and then carrying them around when they were little. Her hips are a little more wide than when we first married but then pushing out three good sized babies through the birth canal will do that.

That makes her rear a little wider also. Lizzie also agonizes over that at times. Yes, just like thousands of other husbands, she asks me if her dress or slacks make her ass look big and I have to try and be politic and not make her feel bad. What I do is immediately drop to my knees behind her and kiss that lovely ass through whatever she is wearing and sometimes she is not wearing any underwear so I get to drool, kiss, and nibble on that magnificent, at least to me, ass. She usually doesn't mind wearing whatever then as she knows I worship her. Do I get to occasionally ease my cock into that ass I worship? No, I only get to kiss it now and then.

She stands at about five and a half feet tall, just right for me, as I stand five foot ten. When she puts on her three inch heels when we go out for a formal date night we are then that great proportion. Her head is slightly below the top of my head. We can dance comfortably together and do so quite a bit.

I noticed some pictures from our college years. I was taking classes in computer design and systems analysis while Lizzie was working on her degree in accounting. We were exclusive and tended to only go out together even though we didn't live together. Both sets of parents were very conservative and had made it very plain that co-habitating was not an option if we wanted to continue a harmonious relationship with them (and get them to help with college expenses). I lived in the dormitory my freshman year, in accordance with college policy, but shared an apartment with two other guys the other three years. Lizzie stayed in the dormitory and became an RA so her dorm expenses were covered by the college.

During our junior and again in our final year Lizzie asked me to allow her to go out a few times with a group of girls and other guys just for "the socialization aspects" as we had been exclusive since middle school. It wasn't my first choice but I felt that in a group setting there would not be too much temptation to cheat so I didn't voice my concerns, just hoped she had fun.

She kind of went cool to me for a short while each time we "took a sabbatical" but then was back and we continued on as though we hadn't been apart. Did I date while she was out with her friends? Actually, no, I just buckled down and studied harder. I had goals and graduating with a high GPA was one of them.

Anyhow, back to the present.

I was thinking all the good thoughts, the great thoughts, the mellow and sad thoughts about our lives together and how we would buck the odds and celebrate first that Silver anniversary then the ones after that, and maybe even our Golden anniversary and with God's grace even our Diamond anniversary, probably while together in a care home but still with sound minds to realize it.

Then I found the small photo box hidden behind the rest. I opened it and found some Polaroids. I couldn't figure out where they would have come from as we had never had a Polaroid Instant Camera. I loved the idea but the cost of each photo, at the time, was kind of daunting. We were just starting out and money was tight. Regular film was far cheaper than the gratification of instant photographs. Thank God digital came out. We could then see the picture instantly, even faster than waiting for the photo to appear on Polaroid paper. So where did these photos come from? My heart sank as I looked through the many small square shots.

After a bit I put them aside and tried to sort through some of the rest. I finally put them all away and went to our cloud account.

Since the advent of the smart phone the majority of our photos were now images on a shared cloud account. Since we had them on our phones I don't think Lizzie had ever gone to the cloud account and looked at them. Included were even photos sent to us via text message. There I found some other images that made my heart hurt more.

Jump forward six months.

It was three weeks before our Silver Anniversary celebration. All the plans were finalized. The continuous slide show was finished and set to advance each slide every fifteen seconds and was accompanied by some soft piano music as Lizzie had always loved the piano even though she didn't play.

Originally I planned on surprising her with the finished presentation at the celebration, not even the kids had seen it, but I decided that Lizzie needed to see it for herself because I assumed she would not sit and watch the whole two hundred slides while we were celebrating with about a hundred family and friends.

Lizzie had gotten very busy with her accounting firm so I had to get on her calendar. Finally the evening had come and she promised to watch it in its entirety without allowing any interruption. She even shut off her phone.

Our huge plasma TV was to be the screen. It would show each and every memory in 4K clarity. I had moved our two individual chairs to the side and moved the loveseat to the fore so we had to sit together to see our lives unfold on the screen. We had not sat this close for quite some time. It felt good to me but I didn't know how it felt to Lizzie. At first she forced herself to keep from touching me. That changed as the slide show unfolded.

The title slide was "Remember When...?"

We started with "Remember When... We Were Kids Together?" Each slide was a different one of her or me then us together in grade school. Since we grew up next door to each other we had a lot of shared memories from that very young age. There was even one with Lizzie kissing me on the cheek while I had a very screwed up face. At seven years of age girls had cooties and I didn't want any.

Lizzie smiled and giggled at the pictures of our very young age. "Oh, Tracy, I had forgotten some of these photos actually still existed. This is going to be good."

A few more of us at a slightly older age, but still in grade school, that completed that section. We went on to "Remember When... We Were In Middle School Together?"

There were pictures of us attending our first boy/girl dance at the school. Lizzie was wearing a nice dress and I had on my first tie. Then there was confirmation in our local church. The whole class of us, about ten in all, were grouped for a couple of photos. There were also photos of soccer, football, and volleyball games where we developed some skills even though neither of us were starters.

The picture of us on our first date where we were chauffeured to the movie by my dad and home again by her dad was cute. Once again she was giving me a kiss on the cheek in the second photo but this time I had a grin on my face. Girls didn't have cooties any more.

During this part of the presentation Lizzie reached for my hand. She smiled at me before turning her gaze back to the screen and the next picture. It was the first time she had held my hand in over a year. I had to force myself to allow it.

The next section was, you guessed it, "Remember When... We Were In High School?" There were more pictures there, from our first day as freshmen all the way to our senior year. Some were of each of us alone, some photos of us as a couple and even some with other kids and groups of kids. There were pizza parties at Youth Fellowship. Birthday parties, bowling, my first car, dances, dates, then junior prom, homecoming dances, and finally senior prom were all up on the screen. Unknown to my parents one of the pictures of me had me grinning like I knew something no one else did. Just before the picture was taken Lizzie had flashed me her teen breasts while no one else was looking. It was the first time I actually got to see her charms and I couldn't wipe the grin off my face.

Lizzie turned to me and pulled up her blouse and flashed me again. Her grin was contagious and I felt my grin begin before I shook my head and pointed back at the screen.

The slide show had gone on to the next section, aptly named "Remember When... We Went to College?"

It started with the few pictures taken by our parents of us in line to sign up for classes and then our first dormitory rooms and our first roommates. I had contacted many of our former college chums and had gotten many pictures of our activities through the college years and some were included. Pictures of Lizzie and her friends while we were not dating were a surprise to Lizzie. A couple showing her snuggling with a guy or two made her duck her head as they were on the screen. I scrupulously kept my attention on the screen and just observed her with my peripheral vision.

Shots from each year rounded out that section and ended with our graduation. The two of us smiling and making gestures while wearing our gowns and mortar boards and then our shared celebration with families and friends brought a smile of remembrance to Lizzie's face again.

Lizzie turned to me as the last picture of our graduation celebration was on the screen. "Where are the pictures of our engagement? You asked me to marry you finals week." I didn't reply orally but just pointed back to the screen.

She returned her gaze as the chapter changed to "Remember When... We Became Betrothed?" One of her friends had actually had gotten a shot of me on my knee asking Lizzie to marry me while we were taking a break from studying that final week of school. The next picture showed Lizzie knocking me down as she obviously said "Yes" to my proposal. I kept my eyes forward but noticed Lizzie wipe a tear from her eye.

Her grasp of my hand became tighter and she turned to me. "I love you, Tracy. This is great. Thank you." I just nodded and returned my attention to the screen.

There were various pictures of our year of engagement. We did a lot of things together that year but we had pledged that we would wait to consummate our physical love on our wedding night. Lizzie had resisted "going all the way" citing her pledge to remain celibate until she was wed that she had made in Youth Group at our church while we were still in high school. That pledge had not extended to all forms of physical pleasure as we had given each other orgasms via fingers and the odd blow job over dating years. Lizzie had even swallowed my sperm many times, sometimes forcing me to share as I lay panting after a mind wrenching orgasm. It was never my first choice, tasting my own sperm, but I loved the bitch so I literally sucked it up when she would slam her spermy mouth on mine.

There were no photos of my bachelor party, just a slide that said, "Tracy's bachelor party was kind of dull. No stripper, no binge drinking and was over at midnight." There were no cameras on cell phones in those days and none of my friends or family were into photo taking so there were no embarrassing or even potentially embarrassing photos from that boring night.

On the other hand I had given a couple of Lizzie's friends throw away cameras for her hen party. I don't know if they had ever told Lizzie where the cameras came from. I had not developed the pictures then. I had actually planned for them to be part of an anniversary celebration and had forgotten them in a box until I ran across the Polaroids. After searching for a self service developer I had developed all of them and now included some of the less risqué shots. There were pictures of Lizzie wearing a fake veil, thankfully not the one she would wear for me a week later.

I knew that there were male strippers at her party, she had excitedly described the studs the next day to me. There were pictures of her getting a lap dance from a couple of them. The look of lust on Lizzie's face was one I had seldom seen at any time during our long life together. She turned to me. "Are you sure that our families should see those photos?"

I actually addressed her. "Why, are you ashamed of how much you enjoyed their attention? I think even the kids got a hoot when we went through all of these for the slide show."

"The kids have seen these?" I nodded. "Oh, my God, I am so embarrassed." She got a little red and buried her face in her hands for a few moments before looking up to see a shot of her on her knees with a drink in her hands. "Oh, no, not a picture of me falling down drunk. Please, can't you take this one out?"

I shook my head. "The soundtrack was added after the slides were all chosen. It would take too much time to change it now." The slide show had gone on from there to the next chapter in our life together.

"Remember When... We Pledged Our Troth?" came up next. There were many pictures of us together, some of Lizzie alone and then with her entourage. I had a couple added of the guys who had stood up with me. I had an ulterior motive for that but didn't comment.

We had pictures of the traditional cake cutting and feeding each other a piece of cake. While I had made sure to not smash cake into Lizzie's face and risk ruining her dress, she had made sure to smear cake all over my face. That day I had taken it well, not even wiping it off for a while. There were other pictures of me talking with family while still sporting white frosting on my brow.

We had put one-time cameras on the tables and had collected them at the end of the reception. After our honeymoon we had them developed and had given them a quick look over before getting on with our life together. When I went through them again for this celebration I had noticed something I had not paid attention to before. There were a couple of shots of Lizzie dancing with my best man and one of my groomsmen. They were very close and actually seemed to be embracing instead of dancing. Lizzie gasped as she saw those included in the slide show. I kept my attention fully on the screen as the show went to the next slide. Lizzie looked at my profile in consternation but didn't comment.

That section ended with a couple of shots from our honeymoon. We were so young looking and seemingly in love on that beach. I remember asking total strangers to take pictures of us together as we stood arm in arm in the surf. I even included one of Lizzie topless. It was from the rear but all she had on was her microbikini bottoms. Lizzie was back to being a little embarrassed at my photo choices.

We went on to a chapter of her pregnancies. I had many pictures to choose from each of her three pregnancies. I included pictures of Emily, our oldest, right after birth and then on to Todd, and finally Shane. Then there were pictures of the kids growing up, interspersed with Christmas celebrations and vacations until we got to the end. The final slide was just "Remember When...?"

I paused it there. "This is the end of the slide show for our celebration. The next slides are for you and me alone. I don't think anyone else needs to see them but I will let you have the final say on whether they should be included."

Lizzie had a quizzical look on her face. I pointed back at the screen and hit "Play" again. The next title slide was "Remember When... On Our Wedding Night You Told Me That I Was Your First and I Told You That You Were My Only?"

The first slide after the title slide was one of the Polaroids. It showed Lizzie in a state of undress with a male pawing her tits. The next slide had her sucking his cock. Lizzie reached for the remote to shut it off. "Where did you get this? Why are you trying to embarrass me publicly?"

I kept the remote tightly in the hand away from her and kept my eyes on the screen. "These must be some of your trophy shots, something to look at in your old age and remember when you pulled the wool over my eyes. Here, I was adhering to our pact to wait until we were married and you were out fucking other men." The next slide proved my statement as the guy's nicely sized cock was entering what I had assumed was virgin territory.

She was getting heated now. "Shut it off! NOW! SHUT IT OFF, I DEMAND YOU SHUT IT OFF NOW!"

She even tried to wrestle with me for the remote. When that didn't work she looked up at the screen and saw a picture of her on her knees with her fake veil on, the one she wore to her bachelorette party, and the cock of one of the strippers now in her mouth. I had to comment, "Remember when you asked me to not show you falling down drunk at your bachelorette party? Well, you weren't drunk, you were getting ready to suck and then fuck the stripper." The next slide showed her bent over a table with his large cock thrusting in. I continued, "Oh yeah, and the other strippers, too."

The next few slides showed her being tag teamed and then made airtight by the strippers with her friends in the background cheering her on.

"Imagine the surprise when I had those pictures developed to help us celebrate our silver anniversary. I just wish I had developed them earlier. It does explain why some of your best friends in the world quit talking and socializing with you. They were loyal to you and didn't inform me of your fucking around but apparently didn't approve so they just dumped you."