Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad

My parents would have been married 63 years today! They were married September 7, 1946. They were married at a Mass at 11:00 A.M. and then went on to a small breakfast reception. My Mom said it was a very hot September day. And she said there was a band strike on at the time so they only had a juke box for music.
My Mom wore a heavy satin long-sleeved dress, she said she was so warm! She said she saw it in the window of a bridal shop one day on her way to work, and she fell in love with it, then she saved and saved until she had enough to buy it. It was a beautiful dress with tiny little buttons that ran all the way down the back. And it had a very long train. She had beautiful satin shoes to match, with an ankle strap and an open toe.
Her youngest sister was her Maid of Honor and she wore a green satin gown. And her oldest niece was her Flower Girl and she wore a dusty pink gown. My Dad and his Best Man wore morning suits.

My parents had met on a blind date in New York while my Dad was on shore leave. He was in the Coast Guard during WWII, and while on leave he said he was playing pool with some of his buddies, and one of them asked him if he wanted to go along on a blind date and my Dad agreed. My Mom said she was at work and one of her coworkers said she was meeting her boyfriend after work and he had a pal that needed a date would my Mom go along.
They were meeting at a restaurant and the girls got there first, my Mom said the guys came along and my Mom was hoping that she'd get the 'handsome one' and she did! And my Dad said he saw two girls waiting for them and as they were getting closer he said he just kept saying to himself, "Oh I hope I'm not getting the blond one, I hope I'm getting the redhead." And he did!
They spent the next two years writing to each other as my Dad then was serving in the South Pacific. In one of his letters my Dad asked my Mom to marry him, and he sent her a check and asked her to please pick out an engagement ring for herself. And he said if the answer was no, he still wanted her to cash the check and buy herself something. Well, obviously the answer was YES!

I didn't get a chance to scan into the computer too many old pictures yet, so I can't show you any of their wedding pictures, but this is a picture of them from their 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.




And this is a picture of them when they lived in the little semi-attached house they bought after they were married for a few years (they spent the first years of their marriage living in an apartment with my Mom's parents where two sons were born to them.) This house was the scene of many family parties and get-togethers. I have wonderful childhood memories of this home, and of the many Saturdays that my Dad would be barbecuing for all the relatives!

I think this picture was taken soon after they had moved into the house. My Dad is standing holding my oldest brother Tom, and my Mom is kneeling in front of him holding onto the baby stroller (I'm not sure if that is my brother John in the stroller or if it is my cousin Kathy, I'm thinking it's Kathy as she is reaching for my Aunt Marion there, I don't know where my brother John is then because I know he was born before they moved).


This picture is of myself with my parents taken at the wedding of my cousin's daughter. It wasn't too many years after this that my parents both started having major health problems.



And I don't know why I feel the need to post the following, but I do feel that I somehow have to preserve a very beautiful memory that I have of my Mom.

Psycho-analysis ~
This is how I feel about it:

I can NOT stand psycho-babble! I can NOT stand it when you say to a therapist something like, "I had a really good day today", and they respond by saying, "So what you're really saying, Eileen, is that you would have liked to have a really good day today but something prevented that, right?" HUH????
Or they will say, "Okay, what I'm hearing is that you're having a major problem today." HUH???
I find them to be mind-boggling! I finally got to a point where I would be saying to them, "I don't know why you can't hear what I'm saying, but what I'm REALLY saying are the words that are REALLY coming out of my mouth. And what I REALLY mean to say are the words that are REALLY coming out of my mouth."
I don't want to go into anything personal with my family but suffice it to say that I have come in contact with a few therapists, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrist. Not one was a pleasant encounter.

Now, some people thrive on 'talking out your problems, and digging into your past' type of analysis and that's fine. It's just not for me. In fact, it is the exact opposite of me and my comfort zone. If I am living a delusional life with delusional memories, and I'm happy, then leave me alone.
I remember one therapist asking me to recall a favorite memory from my childhood and I told her that it was my Mom rocking me to sleep as she sang song after song to me.
And this counselor prided herself on finding a 'breakthrough' (a breakthrough for what I don't know!), she asked me if I felt abandoned by the fact that my Mom was 'trying to get rid of me' as she was 'lulling me into inactivity so she wouldn't have to be bothered with me'! HUH????
This therapist seemed so offended that my reaction was not one of joy at having reached this epiphany, for all I had to say was that, "NO, I don't feel any of that at all, I always feel safe and secure and completely loved by my Mom when I remember that."
The therapist really kept dwelling on that memory and wanted me to see it as some form of abuse or neglect, and she just kept shaking her head and saying I was in denial.

Well, Mom, I never have and never will see my favorite memory of you as anything but the purest form of love.
You and Dad were the BEST! You were the best couple. You were the best 'man and wife' team. You were the best parents. And I am so grateful to you and will always remain so. I love you both so much and I miss you both so much.