2001-03-27 - 21:25 MST

March 27, 2001

Way To Maturity

Once, long ago -- or what is long ago to most people there was war in the world. Many things were rationed, sugar and I remember mixing yellow food coloring into the white margarine as butter was scarce. Rationed were gas, shoes, gasoline, tires and for the most part the mechanisms needed in the house -- washers, dryers, freezers -- most anything run by electricity was unavailable.

Most anything used in normal everyday life was sent to the war effort first, what was left over went to the civilians. Fact of life, S__t happens, and World War Two was a horrible pile of it.

My life was fairly stable, being classified 4F on account of my heart and working for the railroad made me pretty well exempt from the draft. Still at home with Mom and Dad and owning a bicycle and using the Tramway trolleys. I paid rent at home, being a favored tenant and the only one, my rent was not high.

My best friend at work was married with two little kids and I visited the family quite often. A roller skating party was in he air and our shy, lonesome billing clerk was without a date. My friend Bill said, "Our baby sitter is eighteen years old and a nice girl, I also know that she is a good roller skater, do you want me to ask her to the party for Jim ? It sounded good to me, so it was done.

Two nights before the party my date got sick and couldn't go. No real biggie, unless one is a skate dancer skating solo is fun too.

During the party I discovered early on that Jim was too shy to handle a date, so I became her partner for the evening. This lady is Heather, my beloved mate.

Leaving out things inconsequential to what I want to say, Heather and I became companions, engaged and later married.

Okay -- the stage is now set for my walk in the field of memories.

There was an attempt to do quite a bit of our thinking and planning for us by both sets of parents -- aunts, uncles and friends. The consensus was, wait until the war is over to marry.

Heather and I got our heads together and planned our wedding out between us. We paid a nearby florist for our wedding flowers and financed a small wedding at her church. Our families couldn't afford a church wedding for us, but that is what we wanted, so we did it. She was working and so was I, even so it required a lot of contemplation and calculation. Living quarters were hard to come by in wartime and none of our folks had room for a married couple, so a big search was undertaken for somewhere to live after we married. We rented a small apartment on the second floor of an old house, a bedroom and a combination kitchen, dining room, living room with a bath room squeezed in. A good part of the furniture was from both families, in good shape, usable and familiar. Some needed items we had to hunt down used stuff to make do. Ration stamp procedures were re-adjusted so that Heather and I would have our own - and the families had to give up those they had for us.

I had a nice pair of good shoes, but owned neither a suit or a good tie. So I got married in a suit borrowed from one of Heather's in-law Man types, necktie borrowed from my dad. Heather had good clothes at home, although she had to figure out the wedding dresses and we had to pay a good portion of the cost of them. Money was set aside for the preacher and money was held back for groceries and other necessaries, some was spent to get us started in our new home.

We had it all figured out and paid for well ahead of time including wedding pictures. Our wedding was nice, the reception had some missing items due to rationing, but was good too.

The wedding presents were the best that anyone could do during war time. I do remember that we had eighteen sets of Ice Tea Tumblers with pitchers. My Mom, Heather's Mom and my Grandmother put together the best set of silverware they could find . . . . most of it not matching, but compatible. There were other things we got that we needed and didn't have -- but the gift department mostly demonstrated that Heather and I were loved.

We were happy, settled down and were prepared for whatever might happen in the future.

We didn't stay long in our first apartment. Our families were not moneyed people, but my Grandmother (Mom's Mom) Got a two storied store building, fronting on the sidewalk with the intention of the rent making the payments, while she continued to live over on Colfax A or Colfax B in east Denver where she was renting out apartments to make payments on that building.

Heather and I settled in on the first floor, rented the front room out as an office for a real estate outfit which was ideal for them, likewise it paid a portion of our rent. We had settled in and began the process of raising a very young baby.

This one is for me, to write down facets of our past to compile a Kinko's style book for our kids which will tell them how things were before they became aware. If I do it now, at least it is written.

So, in a fumbling way I relive the past in my mind, aged and mellowed by time until I am at peace with myself and think that I am getting it down while I still remember who I am on the Way To Maturity . . . . . .

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