Memory Monday

“It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.” 
― Friedrich Nietzsche

     Now we have wedding plans to make! I would have been perfectly happy getting married in a quiet family only ceremony as I know Dick would have, but my mom had other ideas!!  Nothing but the best for her daughters!  My sister had  been married a few years before, so now Mom had experience at being Mother of the Bride!   This was before the days of wedding planners!  Mom was the wedding planner!  First, we set the date with the priest.  Then we have to go dress shopping; there were no stores in my home town which carried wedding dresses so we had to go to Jacksonville, 35 miles east; or Quincy, 35 + miles west or the big city of St. Louis, MO, 70 miles south.

A similar Department Store where we shopped

      We found the perfect dress in Jacksonville at a  dress shop. (I can't remember the name but the picture above is a close facsimile)...and we found the bridesmaids dresses also.  I only wanted my sister for my Matron of Honor and a young friend for a junior bridesmaid.  For groomsmen, we had Dick's brother as Best Man, my brother for junior groomsman, and a couple of friends from college for ushers.  Most of my friends from high school were already married and either had moved away or working on families of their own.
     Because so many of my friends were gone, my mom's best friends decided to throw me a wedding shower.  They invited Dick's mom and little sister to come which they did.  Now remember these were people I had met only once when I was invited to dinner at their home while I was teaching in Kansas City.  Harold, my father in law to be, drove them over...about a three hour drive.  My dad was assigned to entertain Harold.  My dad said he would just take him up to one of the bars where they could sit and visit.  Well, that put a bit of a panic in me, because I was pretty sure the Dodds' life style was quite a bit different from my party hearty parents!  I said "Dad, I don't think he drinks!" And my dad's typical reply was " Well, by God, he'll drink with me! No good man would turn down a friendly drink!"
   

Lindsey's...still operating 50+ years later!

     And of course, Dad was right...Harold did have a drink with him; they got along just fine, both having a common interest in livestock and farming. My worries were unnecessary as usual!  

      It is now mid- August and although we are not getting married until December 29 (we had set that date so Dick could also be home for Christmas), I am planning on going back to Reno, to see if I can get a job teaching!  The optimism of youth!  I have a car; I have Dagmar, my faithful German Shepherd; I am 22 years old!  But my mom was very concerned about me making the drive by myself so in sharing her concerns with many of her friends over the frequent bridge games, she came up with a solution!  One of her friend's daughter who was also a friend of mine,  was home for the summer between semesters at college and she had friends in California. So the plan was for Marion to travel to Reno with me,  then take the bus on to San Francisco to visit with her friends.  And that trip will be the topic of my next blog!!!