Our First Christmas

with our parents on our wedding day,
Dec. 20, 1969
Concordia Lutheran Church
Akron, Ohio

We were married on December 20, 1969, so it was only a few days till Christmas. Married in Akron in a church that some of Joyce's stone-mason ancestors had helped build, we drove that first night down to the Holiday Inn North in Columbus (now gone) where we spent our first night together. We were on our way to New Orleans, a place we'd picked because neither of us had been there before.

We had a little extra cash because at our reception, Dr. Fred Bissell (from Aurora--I taught several of his wonderful children; a couple are Facebook friends) had gone around the room getting people to put cash on a little Christmas tree he had. Don't know what we would have done without his generosity. We had no general credit cards then--only ones for gasoline.

Our second night was in Memphis, right on the river. The next day we drove into an ice storm and had to stay in a little nameless motel in a tiny town I can't remember. But we were grateful for the haven.

Next night we drove into New Orleans to the little romantic place we'd reserved for our stay of several days, but when we arrived (around midnight), the desk clerk told us that they'd given the room to someone else ... we were late, you know? No room in the Inn. (One of the pre-cellphone issues!)

Now what?

We drove downtown, saw a Ramada Inn, checked in there into a less-than-romantic room, but we were safe; we were there; we were married. I think it's still there. We called room service and got some soup for supper--a seafood gumbo. Always good at 1 a.m.

The next few days (it was cool but sunny) we wandered around the city, checked out some jazz places, went on a little cruise up the Mississippi into Bayou Country. (Joyce was already zeroing in on her dissertation subject: Kate Chopin, who lived and wrote in New Orleans.)

We spent our first Christmas in that room, using a little artificial tree Mom had given us, a tree that had faux gumdrops for ornaments. We still have that tree.

That night, we went to see a movie--the latest James Bond, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a film that ends with Bond's marriage (awwww) and, moments later, the murder of his bride. Now wasn't that special for a honeymoon! For Christmas Day!

When we left, we drove up the river to Hannibal, Missouri, boyhood home of Mark Twain, and we roamed around, already flashing signs of the immense nerdiness that has characterized our marriage--and our vacations (almost all of which have been to literary sites: homes, graveyards, you know ...).

Then we veered into the West, on impulse, to drive to Des Moines, Iowa, where my parents (who were probably figuring out how to pay for our rehearsal dinner) were living and teaching at Drake University. We surprised them (to say the least) and stayed a couple of days there with them. Dad's brother John was visiting with his wife, Juanita, and it was wonderful for Joyce to meet one of my favorite uncles. He worked for John Deere his whole life after WW II and must have loved being in Iowa to see all the equipment! (He lived in Walla Walla, Washington.)

Then it was home--323 College Court, Kent, Ohio, our first apartment (one of four in a little duplex), where we continued our lives. Joyce was now full-time at Kent State University in the English Ph.D. program; I was teaching full-time at the Aurora Middle School (7th graders), taking classes at night and in the summer.

And, impossibly, forty-eight years have flown by. We have a terrific son, a wonderful daughter-in-law, two perfect grandsons (8 and 12). We both have had careers we loved; we are both retired; we are both reading and writing all the time. And laughing and holding hands and doing our best to keep the darkness where it belongs.