Our wedding reception went as planned, without incident. Jim was so handsome in his tux. Mom rested all day after the temple so she could be there. It was only the second time I had seen her in a long dress with her hair in an "updo" AND a little makeup to help her look less pale and gaunt from her progressing illness. The first time was at my sister's wedding. I noticed that she looked so much more thin and fragile than I remembered her then. Of course my dad, Jesse and Jean and members of the bridal party were there in line for the reception.
It was after the reception that things got "interesting"...no...CRAZY!!!! We were very aware of the new craze that was circulating among friends of newly weds viz. kidnapping the bride and groom after the reception and driving one to Provo and the other to Ogden and just dropping them off there. There had actually been one incident when the car carrying the bride was involved in an accident which killed the bride. Can you imagine such a tragedy? So the idea of this happening to us was a bit scary. Some of Jim's unmarried friends were not beyond attempting such a stunt or something else just as disrupting of our wedding night. We weren't disappointed. After changing into our "get away" clothes at the church, we sneaked out the rear door to where our car was, "inconspicuously" parked only to discover that it had been jacked up and put on blocks so the wheels just spun. Jim had thought of the possibility that something something like this would happen to disable it. Just decorating it for fun would have been nice, but these friends weren't necessarily nice. So he had arranged backup plan just in case. He had arranged for his brother to be waiting in another car to pick us up if necessary. And it was necessary. But by the time we were getting into that car, the friends realized we were not in the church and had run outside just to see us get into that car and the chase was on. By the time they reached their cars we had a head start. We had several other advantages. We knew the neighborhood and they didn't, and because it was dark and they were chasing a car unfamiliar to them they had to slow down and look into every passing car. We ducked down in the back seat in hopes that they wouldn't see us if they passed. After driving around the neighborhood a few times, we met my Uncle and Aunt and transferred into their car. They drove around for a while to make sure they weren't being followed, then dropped us off at my house. But I guess when our adversaries had been unsuccessful in the car chase, they decided to check out my house. When we saw them out front we ran through my back yard to the back yard of the neighbors on the next street. Since we knew these neighbors, Dad was on the phone asking them to let us in the house. We stayed there for I don't remember how long, but long enough to feel comfortable that they had given up on the chase and that Jesse had gotten our car off the blocks so we could use it to drive to our destination, our Ogden apartment. All that I remember at this point was that I was SO tired and we still had a "long" drive ahead of us. It had been a very long day.
We finally arrived at our apartment very late that night. Actually, I'm sure that it was very early in the morning. Did I say that I was tired? Well now I was really, really tired. So tired, in fact, that all I wanted to do was sleep. To heck with it being my wedding night. I'm sure you won't believe me when I say that we just crawled into bed and went to sleep, but that is true. Jim was just as tired as me. But I have to admit, it was the best sleep I had ever had because for the first time I was cuddled up in the arms of my sweetheart and HUSBAND. It all felt so good and so right.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Sunday, March 9, 2008
The Wedding Day
For a month or so before the wedding, Mom had been encouraging me to have a perm. I had thin, very straight hair that refused to hold a curl for more than a day without re-setting. I had never had a perm, not even a "home" one because I equated a perm with frizzy uncontrolled hair and I wanted not part of it. I wanted to look the best I could for my husband on our wedding day. I resisted all attempts to make me believe that it would be much easier to look good if I added a little "body" to my hair which a perm would provide, and I wouldn't have to set my hair every single day like I was used to doing. I should have listened, but instead I dutifully set my hair in pin curls on the eve of my wedding day and went to bed.
Although I thought I would be too excited or too nervous to fall asleep, I dozed right off to "Dreamland" without even the dreams and slept peacefully through the night. I jumped right out of bed when the alarm went off at seven. I knew I had two hours to get ready before we had to be at the temple. That would be plenty of time for me, and probably even time to spare. Then I looked in the mirror. And there staring back at me was this ugly person with straight, limp hair. It seems that sometime during the night I had taken all the bobbi pins which held the pin curls out of my hair. I just stared in unbelief for at least a minute, and then I began to cry. What was I going to do? There wasn't time to reset and dry my hair. Air drying took time and only beauty salons had blow dryers. My family rallied around me and came up with the idea to use the oven to help dry my hair. I quickly reset my hair and spent the next hour or so bent over with my head in the warm oven. Although it didn't completely dry by the time I had to comb it out, my hair was at least presentable (a hat really helped) and we made it to the temple on time.
What a beautiful sight it was to see my immediate family, Mom, Dad, my two sisters, and Grandma Knapp, Jim's family, Jesse, Jean, and brother Rudy, plus aunts, uncles and friends, all dressed in white, as we were led into the sealing room of the Salt Lake Temple. There at the head of the altar stood Elder Harold B. Lee who was to be our sealer. I remember how beautiful he looked...yes, beautiful. He just seemed to have an aura all about him. There was such a special spirit in the room that day that I will never forget. Elder Lee had us sit as he gave us counsel before performing the ceremony. Probably like most of you who have been married, I don't remember everything he said to us. But there was one thing that I will never forget, probably because it sounded so unbelievable to me at the time. But over the last fifty-four years I realize how prophetic it really was. This is what he said: "I know how much love you feel for each other this day. I see it in your eyes. But I promise that in the years to come, your love will grow so much that, by comparison, you will wonder if you were in love at all on the day you were married." He was SO right! There are no words in the English language to express the love I feel today for that wonderful eternal companion of mine.
We knelt at the altar, held hands and looked into each other's eyes as Elder Lee performed that simple but beautiful ordinance that bound us together for time and all eternity. Then that first kiss over the altar as husband and wife. That was the most beautiful moment of my life. The hugs and expressions of love and congratulations which followed were blurred by comparison. I hardly remember assembling for pictures on the temple steps after the ceremony, but I have the pictures to prove that we did. I wasn't in my wedding dress as we see brides today. No one wore their wedding dresses in the temple or on the grounds afterwards for pictures. That was saved for the reception. So I was dressed in my navy blue faille suit, which I wore to the temple and my little blue hat which gratefully helped cover up my now drooping hair.
Then it was back home (no wedding luncheon) to get ready for the reception which also meant resetting my hair. What a way to spend your wedding day...in curlers!
Although I thought I would be too excited or too nervous to fall asleep, I dozed right off to "Dreamland" without even the dreams and slept peacefully through the night. I jumped right out of bed when the alarm went off at seven. I knew I had two hours to get ready before we had to be at the temple. That would be plenty of time for me, and probably even time to spare. Then I looked in the mirror. And there staring back at me was this ugly person with straight, limp hair. It seems that sometime during the night I had taken all the bobbi pins which held the pin curls out of my hair. I just stared in unbelief for at least a minute, and then I began to cry. What was I going to do? There wasn't time to reset and dry my hair. Air drying took time and only beauty salons had blow dryers. My family rallied around me and came up with the idea to use the oven to help dry my hair. I quickly reset my hair and spent the next hour or so bent over with my head in the warm oven. Although it didn't completely dry by the time I had to comb it out, my hair was at least presentable (a hat really helped) and we made it to the temple on time.
What a beautiful sight it was to see my immediate family, Mom, Dad, my two sisters, and Grandma Knapp, Jim's family, Jesse, Jean, and brother Rudy, plus aunts, uncles and friends, all dressed in white, as we were led into the sealing room of the Salt Lake Temple. There at the head of the altar stood Elder Harold B. Lee who was to be our sealer. I remember how beautiful he looked...yes, beautiful. He just seemed to have an aura all about him. There was such a special spirit in the room that day that I will never forget. Elder Lee had us sit as he gave us counsel before performing the ceremony. Probably like most of you who have been married, I don't remember everything he said to us. But there was one thing that I will never forget, probably because it sounded so unbelievable to me at the time. But over the last fifty-four years I realize how prophetic it really was. This is what he said: "I know how much love you feel for each other this day. I see it in your eyes. But I promise that in the years to come, your love will grow so much that, by comparison, you will wonder if you were in love at all on the day you were married." He was SO right! There are no words in the English language to express the love I feel today for that wonderful eternal companion of mine.
We knelt at the altar, held hands and looked into each other's eyes as Elder Lee performed that simple but beautiful ordinance that bound us together for time and all eternity. Then that first kiss over the altar as husband and wife. That was the most beautiful moment of my life. The hugs and expressions of love and congratulations which followed were blurred by comparison. I hardly remember assembling for pictures on the temple steps after the ceremony, but I have the pictures to prove that we did. I wasn't in my wedding dress as we see brides today. No one wore their wedding dresses in the temple or on the grounds afterwards for pictures. That was saved for the reception. So I was dressed in my navy blue faille suit, which I wore to the temple and my little blue hat which gratefully helped cover up my now drooping hair.
Then it was back home (no wedding luncheon) to get ready for the reception which also meant resetting my hair. What a way to spend your wedding day...in curlers!
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