The 1970's were a decade of change for Jay, David and I. It start early with Jay's graduation from high school in 1970. I followed graduating in 1972. Jay went off to college in Champaign/Urbana, Illinois at the University of Illinois. He graduated from U of I in 1974 and David graduated from high school. It was a year of change for me as well. I left Western Illinois University in March 1974 and in April 1974 started working at Admiral Corporation as a machine operator on the freezer line. I left school to marry the love of my life Carol. I promised my parents and grandparents I would return and complete my college education. I did and graduated in 1976 from WIU. Here is the important event from 1974.
This is Carol and I on our wedding day in October 1974. From the left her parents Larry and Jackie, Carol, me, my parents Anna and John. I don't remember our first Christmas as a married couple. I know it was the only one we would share with Larry. He suffered a heart attach in the spring and was revived after suffering massive brain damage. He would spend the remaining 10+ years of his life in nursing homes. When I think about Christmas and being married not much comes to mind in 1974 and 1975. In 1974 I was still working making freezers. I returned to college in January and would commute 50 miles each way daily for classes at WIU. I was also working evenings and weekends so there was no time for anything but work and school. Well I shouldn't say no time for anything. If you take a close look at the picture below.
That is Carol and I at my graduation from WIU in late May 1976. She is pregnant with our first child so clearly I had time to do more than work and study. As my buddy Forrest Gump is famous for: "That is all I have to say about that." Our daughter Tamara was born in September 1976 and my older brother Jay married his love Joan that same month. I know what you are thinking. When in the hell is he going to get to Christmas?
I've been thinking about this post the whole time I was writing all the other ones. You fall in love, you get married and you move away from home. When is your first Christmas? Technically Carol and I shared our first Christmas as a married couple in 1974. I believe in my heart the first real Christmas for us was after the birth of Tamara in 1976. We were a family. We needed to establish traditions of our own. We had to find our place in the world as a family. After I graduated in May 1976 I took a job working for Jewel Tea Company as a route salesman. There are folks out there who can sell ice to Eskimos. There were days I don't think I could have paid them to take winter coats. I was not a sales person. We were living in Potomac, Illinois about 20 miles north of Danville near the Indiana boarder.
This is Carol decorating our tree at our home in Potomac. Our first Christmas as parents. Our first Christmas where we lived a long distance from our parents.
This is a better view of our tree.
This is me relaxing after a day's work out trying to sell stuff. One way to tell old pictures is to look at technology. No one would mistake our 1950's televisions for modern ones. If you look to the right at the wall you will see our telephone. Who has wall phones like that any more?
We also returned home to Sparta Township to celebrate Christmas with the family. On the floor sitting cross legged is Jay's wife Joan. David and his girlfriend at the time are next. Our daughter Tamara is sitting on my mother's lap (her grandmother).
Life kind of rolls along with little concern for anything other than the moment until, at least for us, September 1976 when we became parents. Now someone is depending on us for food, clothing, shelter and most of all love and emotional support. No other event would change our lives as much as Tamara's birth. No offense to our other children but the first child changes your life in ways the other children cannot. We had to grow up. When she was born I was 22 and Carol was 21. We didn't know what we didn't know. We had to learn how to be parents. How to have our own holiday traditions. The good news is that we had parents and grandparents who were there to teach and support us in our efforts. If there is a sadness in all of this it is with Carol's dad Larry. He would have loved his grandchildren and they would have loved him. When you think life is fair think about him. You will know it isn't.
Anyway for Jeff and Carol 1976 was our first real Christmas as a married couple. This year will be our 42nd together. The next few posts will cover some of the ones as our family grew and our traditions got established.
No comments:
Post a Comment