There are lots of reasons for liking Marietta Square: its beauty, its greenery, its history, its status as the focal point of so much of what's fun and lively in Cobb County. But my wife, Fran, and I have an additional reason for being sentimental about the Square: It's where we were wed, 20 years ago this weekend.

And it almost didn't happen.

We had met on a blind date on Halloween nearly two years earlier, a Ray Charles concert at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. We apparently were the only ones who didn't get the memo that you were supposed to dress to the nines for a Ray Charles concert - not wear Halloween costumes. Oh well!

When it came time to find a place to get married, we discovered that was easier said than done. We were not church-goers (yet), and didn't want to go through the pre-marriage counseling sessions that all the local pastors we contacted insisted on before they would perform the ceremony (even though in retrospect, that counseling might have done us some good).

So to make a long story short, we decided to tie the knot in the gazebo on the Square, with then-Cobb Magistrate and now-Superior Court Judge Jim Bodiford doing the honors.

So far, so good.

The Monday before the Saturday afternoon wedding, I was attending a Cobb Municipal Association cookout on Lake Acworth when I overheard one of the attendees talking about a rally planned for the Square for the coming Saturday afternoon. And not just any rally, but a rally led by ACT UP.

You don't hear much about ACT UP these days, but it was in the forefront of gay rights groups in the 1980s and was known for its "in your face" antics. It was coming to the Square protest the outcome of what was known as "the AIDS Biter Case," in which a Cobb resident with AIDS was convicted of attempted murder after biting a Cobb police officer who had been trying to break up a domestic dispute.

Word of the coming demonstration was not the kind of pre-nuptial news that reduces stress. In fact, I didn't even breathe a word of the pending protest to Fran for a couple more days, until it was unavoidable.

It turned out Marietta City Hall had inadvertently booked two events for the Square for almost the same time slot on the Saturday in question - and neither party was inclined to relinquish its reservation, despite plenty of backstage negotiations that week between city officials, police, ACT UP and others.

But ACT UP did agree to end its demonstration on time and vacate the vicinity, which it did, and the wedding went off without a hitch - once the bride finally showed up, 25 minutes late. Turns out she had fallen asleep after taking a sedative while getting ready. She arrived as ACT UP was leaving, one member of which was wearing a wedding gown.

"Oh, I love your dress," he cooed at Fran as they passed each other.

"Oh, I love yours, too!" she responded.

It wasn't until watching the video of the ceremony afterward that we realized a freight train had rumbled through a block away during the exchange of vows. We were both so nervous that neither of us had noticed it at the time.

From there, it soon was on to a new home in Woodstock, then to a nicer one in a great neighborhood (Brookstone II) in the Due West Community in west Cobb; and the welcome arrivals of daughter Lucy (now 14) and son Miles (now 9).

Fran and I have stayed together through thick and thin, and a couple of times when death almost parted us. She was a rock of stability when I was the victim of a botched colonoscopy that landed me in a drug-induced coma for nearly two months while doctors fought to keep me alive.

And while on a vacation in London years before, I thought I was about to see her come to a messy end when, caught up in the giddiness of a first trip overseas, she exuberantly darted across the street on London Bridge - forgetting that in that country, you have to look in the opposite direction than we do here before crossing the street. But luck was with her that day: She had inadvertently picked a moment when there were no double-decker buses zipping past.

I forgot to mention that our honeymoon was in New Orleans. And like the Big Easy, which has suffered from crime, Katrina and now an oil spill, Fran and I have seen our share of ups and downs in the past 20 years. But the ups have far outnumbered the downs - and I'm looking forward to what the next 20 years may bring.

Happy Anniversary!

Joe Kirby is Editorial Page Editor of the Marietta Daily Journal and co-author of the new "Then & Now: Marietta Revisited."