Monthly Archives: July 2017

Newlywed Love (#43)

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March 17, 1970

St. Patrick’s Day turned out to be the most exciting day Nate and I had had for quite some time. One of the envelopes in the day’s mail came from Mary and Bervin. It was a comical St. Pat’s card with a cheerful message about them hoping to come to Champaign for another visit soon.

At the bottom of the card was a small arrow pointing down and saying, “Open.” Waiting inside the flap was the shocking message that Mary and Bervin were going to have a baby! I screamed and threw the card high in the air, jumping up and down, and grabbing Nate in a spin.

A baby coming...“A baby! A baby! We’re going to have a baby!” I said, over and over again. Our family had no young children in it, and the thought of our own little one was news I never expected. Dancing around the apartment, we celebrated this new life along with Mary and Bervin’s good fortune…. and ours. No news could have been more exhilarating!

I knew Nate probably wasn’t thrilled in the same way I was, but he was getting a huge kick out of my antics and was happy to bob and weave with me in our spontaneous dance.

Later that evening I wrote in my journal:

The biggest shock-a-roo and cool-head thing we’ve ever heard is that Mary and Bervin are going to have a PAPOOSE! How’s that for fabulous news?!?! I just screamed when I read it!! Nate and I danced around for 20 minutes – I couldn’t adequately express my joy!! Nate and I will be an aunt and an uncle! And Dad and Mom will be grandparents! GOSH!

The joy was still bubbling out of me an hour later when the phone rang. It was Lynn, calling long distance from Georgia. Don had proposed — and they were engaged! When they’d stayed with us just a few days earlier, Lynn had confided that she thought Don would be “the one” for her. When I asked about a possible proposal, she had said, “Not for 2 more years. He has to go back to Vietnam.”

But there she was, on the other end of the line, describing her Tiffany diamond ring! She told me they were thinking about September for their wedding, in the Chicago area. As she talked, I had to move up and down on the balls of my feet to get rid of the sparks of delight exploding inside of me.

Lynn plansTalking fast because of long distance charges, she asked if I would be one of her bridesmaids and said it would be a military wedding. And she said Don hoped Nate would be part of the wedding party, too. “Does he have dress blues?” she said.

I didn’t even know what that was, but learned that all the military men in the wedding would be wearing these formal navy blue uniforms. And her last question was, “Can Nate get hold of a few military swords?” Time ran out before she could explain, but surely it was going to be an exciting wedding!

The next morning Nate told me I’d been twitching and wiggling in my sleep. Maybe dancing? Or jumping for joy? Either way, those dreams must surely have been happy ones.

“Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.” (James 1:17)

Newlywed Love (#42)

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March 17, 1970

Kiss-meAlthough both Nate and I came from mostly-Scandinavian backgrounds, when St. Patrick’s Day came around it was a different story. My mom had been half Irish, and she told us she’d “lost all her Swedish blood in nosebleeds as a child.”

She adored her Irish father, someone I never met but had heard tales about. Apparently Mom got her lively side from him and was closer to him than to her mother. It sounded like a two-peas-in-a-pod situation that went all the way back to her birth.

Mom arrived at least a month prematurely, but in those days babies were born at home, and no one kept track of due dates, birth weights, or even exact birth dates. Mom, born in December, had no info other than that she wasn’t expected until late January.

She was a tiny newborn, and the doctor told her father, “She probably won’t make it, so don’t name her. Then you won’t get too attached.”

SmackBut Mom defied the odds, and her father admired the baby-spunk in her. Following doctor’s orders, the family called her “Baby” for many weeks. Then finally, just before St. Patrick’s Day, her father said, “I’m going to give her a name.”

He began calling her “Pat” in honor of the holiday he loved, and though eventually they christened her “Evelyn,” her father called her Pat the rest of his life. So did many others. With her very-blue eyes, dark hair, and pale complexion, she looked the part and definitely had her father’s Irish wit.

That’s why, when March 17 came around each year of my childhood, our home glowed green. Mom was decked out accordingly and always wore her “Kiss me – I’m Irish!” button with pride. She served an all-green meal, and heaven help us if we didn’t dress in green that day.

Card frontThis year, 1970, I gave my new husband a homemade St. Patrick’s card with “smack” and a pair of lips drawn on the homemade envelope. He also got a store-bought card filled with affection:

“You are truly my one and only love…. the one I get so excited about seeing at the end of each day.”

Store-bought card

That evening after we had eaten our 69 cent “Chicken Baronet” dinner (out of a box), Nate surprised me with “the sweetest shiny green shamrock box of chocolate candy that I ever saw.”

Journal

 

Life was good, and little things meant a lot. But as we munched on chocolates and opened the day’s mail, we received an unexpected surprise that was REALLY big!

“My cup overflows with blessings.” (Psalm 23:5)

Newlywed Love (#41)

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March 14, 1970

Nate and I loved having company from “home,” especially when it was our closest friends. My long-term pal Lynn (we’d met as pre-teens) had begun dating a guy she’d met in Chicago some months before. Lynn and I had been together when she and Don had first connected, and “sparking” happened immediately.

Don was a career Army officer and had already been to Vietnam and back. He was a captain in charge of many other men and knew how to fly helicopters. All of this impressed Lynn and I, and Don seemed very brave. Though he was soft-spoken and humble, we’d both been in awe that night.

LynnIt wasn’t too many months before Lynn was moving to Georgia where Don was based. Thankfully, Champaign was on their route south, so they stopped at our apartment for 24 hours. Lynn and I were elated to be together again, and our men had no lack of things to talk about, having the Army in common.

That evening after dinner, we pulled out the movie projector we’d received as a wedding gift, and Nate, never having operated a projector before, left it up to me.

After several false starts, it began working, and we showed the first movie – a small reel of 50 feet – on a blank white wall.

Lynn with the reelOur Super 8 camera had been going steadily since our wedding, recording movies of everyone who came and went (along with lots of footage of ourselves). Unfortunately in trying to show the films, we often met with jam-ups and other discouraging failures.

This night, however, the first reel flowed nicely, and we howled at the people dancing around on our dining room wall. The biggest laugh, however, came when we turned the lights back on.

Movies gone badThat’s when we learned the reason for such free-flowing film. All 50 feet were in a tangled heap on the floor beneath the table.

When bedtime came, Nate suggested Lynn be on the Murphy bed and Don on the living room couch. What they did after lights out would be up to them.

Both of us were growing to love Don, and once we were settled into bed ourselves, Nate and I talked about the possibility of a marriage in their future.

Movie cameraThe next morning after breakfast it was time to say goodbye. Nate got the movie camera clicking, and we hoped they’d be back to see the developed film sooner rather than later.

But after they pulled away I slipped my hand into Nate’s and said, “I have a funny feeling Lynn will never be back.” Knowing I was having a sad thought, he put his arm around me and squeezed tight.

As we stood looking down the road where Lynn and Don had disappeared, I thought about the many rapid changes coming to us and to many of our friends. Watching Lynn leave was unsettling. But I knew my dear friend was on the same romantic high I’d been on in 1969 just before Nate and I got engaged. Because of that, she wasn’t sad at all.

So…. how could I be anything but happy for her?

“May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.” (Numbers 6:24-25)