I'm 51 years old. My name's Bill and I'm married to Jenny. She's 49, a slim, attractive blonde that I fell in love at first sight with.
The minute that I first saw her I felt I'd spend my life with her.
We met in Alabama when I was stationed there at Fort Rucker for a year. I did 30 years in the Army, was a helicopter pilot, and retired from the military last year. I was raised in New York by a couple, Jim and Annette, that had adopted me. My parents died in an automobile accident when I was 2.
Jenny's father had died in an auto accident as well when she was only 3 and her mother died of cancer a few years later. She'd gone to live with an aunt in Tennessee but then had been put into foster care when the Aunt had alcohol and drug problems. She bounced through a few families and had no family.
So we had something in common right off the bat.
She was beautiful, cheerful, upbeat and a lot of fun to be around.
Her smile could, and still does, light up a room and we fell in love quickly and totally.
We wrote each other every day when I got deployed for a tour in West Germany.
I missed her so much, and she missed me, that we were talking of marriage after a few weeks of my being overseas.
I got a fiancé travel order for her and flew her over and we got married on base.
her best friend, Kasey, was her matron of honor and my best buddy, a guy named Rick, was my best man. We are all still good friends to this day.
To make a long story shorter, Jenny and I have been married for 29 years, and have been happy together all that time. She's always been there for me, supported me despite all the deployments this past 15 years, and she was the one that did such a magnificent job raising our four children. We have 3 sons- 28,25 and 20 and a 23 year old daughter. The two oldest are married and in the military and we have three grandchildren already. Our youngest, the girl, is engaged to a fine young man.
Jenny did a great job with me being away so often.
I couldn't love any woman more and marrying her was the best decision I've ever made.
Our youngest son has become interested in genealogy the last few years.
This week he came by to visit and was in a very serious mood.
He informed us that he knew we did not possibly know this but Jenny's Mother was my Father's sister. Their Father had left the Mother and remarried to another woman.
We had the same grandparents.
We were first cousins.
Our son said he didn't care. He knew in his heart that we did not know. He told us that he wouldn't research any further. Our kids were all born healthy.
Sometimes, over the years, friends had remarked that we looked alike but all of us had always joked how married couples begin to resemble each other over time.
My wife was upset at the fact that we had an i****tuous marriage and someone might try to invalidate it legally possibly.
She thinks we may have broken laws but I assured her that if we didn't know we can't get in any legal trouble.
She's afraid the law can order us to dissolve our marriage or something.
I don't think they can.
We're apprehensive about approaching a lawyer. We don't want any publicity or any notoriety.
Can a state order us to dissolve our marriage?