This collage of photos is in my dining room. It was made by my Aunt Monie for my parents 50th. wedding anniversary. I got it after my dad died and we cleaned out his place (Mom had been gone for about 9 years at this point).
These are close-ups of some of the pictures. Dad and Mom early in their marriage, their wedding day, when dad graduated from college. He would have been in his early thirties (I'm guessing), and Mom and Dad at my first marriage ceremony. She looked awesome in that dress!
Here is one of my favorite pictures of them. She watched her weight and would have worried when I gained so much weight in the past two years. I have recently lost 20 lbs.-- she would have been so supportive and encouraging and proud.
I've been thinking about their courtship and wedding. I have several pictures of it; I know the church and town where it occurred; and who all were in the wedding. I know the story of when and how Dad first saw her and thought that he was going to like living next to her. (His parents moved a lot, and that got old, but this time and place he liked!)
But I don't know other details like:
How old were they when they started dating?
Where did they go on their first date?
How old were they when they married?
All the many details of the wedding like the flowers, the cake, the reception, honeymoon, and where they ended up living.
I know about when Dad went to war and the details of mom leaving nursing school to marry Dad before he shipped overseas. (nurses were not permitted to be married---that policy changed as the war progressed and the need for nurses increased as the number decreased because of marrying before the men left to fight in WWII.)
I know and did a scrapbook on Dad's capture by the Germans, his POW experience, and his release. We have the three telegrams sent to Mom and her recollections of that time and getting the news of him missing in action, then a POW, and then his release. I know about the duplex Mom bought when Dad was in the war and where they lived after he came home.
We know the details about him becoming a Methodist minister.
But there are so many unasked questions, some things I would love to know. But it's too late to ask.
Reflections of who they were and their early years together are what I wonder about now. I would recommend you ask your parents about their life together so that you have that family history when they are no longer here on earth.
For more corner views, go to Kellen's
i've often 'reflected' on my grandmothers's lives, wishing i knew more, and that i'd taken more interest in some details when they were still alive. but perhaps we don't need to know everything, and maybe there are many parts of people lives that only belong to them
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