Happy Anniversary Baby, Got You On My Miiiiiiind...

Sixty-six years ago last week-ish, my parents were married by a judge in Provo, Utah, with my maternal grandparents witnessing. Tradition begs the following tale be told:

My most excellent mother, may she rest in peace and know she is missed-missed-missed each and every day, was an adorable blonde with sparkly blue eyes and a wicked sense of humor. My handsome dad was downright dashing, with curly black hair, a Romanesque nose and not one shy bone in his entire body. She'd first spied the man in uniform while he was stationed next door at the Civilian Conservation Corps, and she got his attention with a well-aimed snowball. Dad took a gander at her and decided introductions were in order. Delighted but playing it coy, she jumped up to sit cross-legged on the greenhouse roof, which promptly caved in on her. (Now, don't go thinking this was because she was even a teensy bit heavy, for it is a fact that, not six months later on her wedding day, she weighed only ninety-seven pounds. And no, it is not sufficient to say she weighed less than a hundred pounds: She weighed NINETY-SEVEN POUNDS, pal, and you'd best not forget it, especially if you're my dad.)

Senior Portrait

Conversation led to the inevitable first date. As fortune would have it, he took her to the fair, where they got their picture taken in the photo booth. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her in tight, and she beamed brighter than the lights on the Model A. That photo is among my prized possessions.

First date, Spring 1942

Exactly when he proposed is a mystery, but where he proposed was cleared up only recently. I grew up hearing that he asked for her hand after a dance at Bridal Veil Falls, a gorgeous spot in Provo Canyon near what would eventually become Sundance Resort. I always assumed that since they were at the falls for the dance that he proposed there, too. But after she passed away, he revealed that they were hiding behind the sofa in my grandparents' living room, and prior to her accepting him, he sang "You Are My Sunshine."

Her bridal gown was Kelly green, a cute little knee-length number that's tucked away in her hope chest. Her hair was curled in the style of the day and she weighed, you'll remember, ninety-seven pounds. But what she'd never forget were the shoes. For some reason she had to wear a pair of heavy oxfords that she absolutely hated, and for the rest of her life she would insist on wearing nothing but cute, feminine, and entirely impractical shoes.

Just Married!

Mom, Dad, and her folks climbed in the car that morning and headed southwest, out of Heber Valley and down Provo Canyon, past the newly-built Deer Creek Dam and Reservoir, through the Wasatch Range and Mount Timpanogos, on what is now Highway 189. What made the hour-long trip so memorable, and what my dad has never quite gotten over, is that for the entire duration, his future mother-in-law could not help repeating to her daughter, "Now, sweetheart, you do not have to do this. You realize that? You do NOT have to do this, you absolutely don't. If you want, we can just turn right around and go back home, because you do not have to do this." Dad was never sure that he shouldn't take it personally, and frankly, none of the rest of the family was sure about it, either.

The 50th wedding anniversary bash, June 1992

But he did right by her. He swept her away for a two-week honeymoon in Yellowstone Park, built homes in Heber and eventually Salt Lake City, adopted two daughters, traveled the country, and shared the next sixty-four and a half years together. I found a CD of WWII songs that included "You Are My Sunshine," and when it played at her memorial, he clung to my arm as he wept and his whole body shook. In the forty or so years that I knew them, they bickered constantly, but as I was young, I failed to see the depths that lay below their daily interaction. I've been taken back by how deeply he has mourned her, and I've learned as much about him since her death as I knew in all years prior. He moved back to Utah in part to recapture his memory of her, but when I last spoke to him, I heard the gravel of reality in his voice. I cannot comprehend what he is feeling, but I love him all the more that he has felt it.

You Are My Sunshine
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away

The other nite, dear,
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke, dear,
I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried.

You are my sunshine,
My only sunshine.
You make me happy
When skies are grey.
You'll never know, dear,
How much I love you.
Please don't take my sunshine away.