Monday, February 14, 2011

A Valentine...

 
 
Valentine's Day, 1964 - Camp Lejeune, NC . My husband was an enlisted man in the Marine Corps. We had only been married since November and we were living in a tiny silver trailer surrounded by many other tiny silver trailers grouped tastefully around communal dumpsters. The Marine Corps officially designated Geiger Park as "sub-standard housing" and I suppose it was but we hardly noticed.

The little trailer was snug and clean and wood-paneled -- much like living on a boat. And on that first Valentine's Day of our marriage, my husband brought me a spray of wild plum blossoms from the nearby woods, centered in a metal coat hanger bent into the shape of a heart.

It's been forty-seven years -- we're still together -- and the memory still makes me smile.


31 comments:

R. Burnett Baker said...

So much better than a card! The memory is a valentine in and of itself..

Rick

jennyfreckles said...

Oh, how lovely. I needed a bit of romance today. But the best bit is that you're still loved and loving. Don't underestimate that.

Reader Wil said...

That's the best Valentine's present one can get. You married in the same time we did. We married in October 1963! We had been married 36 years when my husband died in November 1999. Time flies.

Pat in east TN said...

That is the sweetest memory to have.

Brian Miller said...

and it makes me smile as well...hope you have a wonderful valentines....

Jean Baardsen said...

Lovely, warm memory.

A Bit of the Blarney said...

On our 1st anniversary, 7/1969, Ron was at Ft. Riley, KS and I was in Denver. It was lovely to hear his voice that day! What lovely memories yours have brought back! Thank you and Happy Valentine's Day! Cathy

Brenda said...

And now you've made all of us smile as well. Very sweet, thanks for sharing!

Suz said...

It is no wonder that you have been married so long...love
it was evident from the start
hope you kept the hanger
tell him how impressed we all are
Happy day of love to you too
a Marine huh? :)

Louise said...

Ohhhh, that made me smile. Such a lovely Valentine's Day and such a wonderful memory.

Stella Jones said...

That's a lovely memory Vicki. Happy Valentine's day to you and your husband. May you have many more together.
Star x

Jill said...

How sweet! A most wonderful and loving memory. Happy Valentines Day!

BB said...

That's a great memory too! Thanks

Tipper said...

Awww-so sweet! My husband gave me my favorite Valentine when we were first married too-we were having to live with Granny and Pap-so not much privacy. But when I went out to my car that morning to go to work-he had hand drawn a heart on a piece of paper and stuck it under my windshield wiper : )

Darla said...

Your memory makes ME smile, too. Blessings! Much love to you, Vicki, on your beautiful journey through life.

L. D. said...

It is a wonderful memory and I too smile.

Martin said...

Hot on your heels, Vicki, with 38 years. Not so much in the way of hearts and flowers these days, but the love and understanding runs deep.

Miss_Yves said...

LOVEly post!
Lovely heart!
Your love story isn't like snow:it doesn't melt!

Christine said...

Vicki what a sweet precious memory! Ain't love grand!

Tess Kincaid said...

I'd rather have wild plum in a coat hanger heart than hot-house roses any day of the week. Happy V-Day to you and yours. x

Inger said...

What a lovely memory. Happy Valentine's Day to you both. Check my blog tomorrow -- your folkart inspired me.--Inger

Vicki Lane said...

Thanks, folks, for the kind words! I'm glad my memory made you smile...

Victoria said...

What a lovely, sweet memory your husband gave you!

That picture of the rose is gorgeous, but wild plum blossoms in a heart shaped metal hanger would beat out roses any day!

Happy Valentine's Day to both of you...

Folkways Note Book said...

Vicki -- Now that is a beautiful love story -- how wonderful. -- barbara

chiccoreal said...

Dear Viki: Plum Blossoms! This time of year? In NC yes, I guess...how romantic! I though silver trailers were aristreams and they are like $$$ megabucks. Probably are to daay; the memories anyway..oh to go back then...nah? Love grows stronger, deeper, more intrinsically connected to source.Is anyone else drawn to the past or is the past drawn to us?

Vicki Lane said...

Chiccoreal -- it was eastern NC where the plum blossoms were blooming. And the trailers weren't Airstreams but a military, non-mobile version thereof.

Elora said...

What a happy story! Absolutely lovely, Vicki!

Elora

Nicole@Rare Bird said...

What a beautiful story. May you be blessed with many more precious Valentines Days.

Kath said...

Oh, my goodness. My family lived in one of those trailers for a few months in the mid 1950's when we'd just returned from the Canal zone, Panama, and before Dad was stationed at Quantico for Junior School.
Kath

Vicki Lane said...

You know, Kath, they really weren't that bad for a pair of newly weds -- a family, now, that could be crowded. Though as I recall there were some longer ones with more room than ours had. Bunk beds, I think, built into the walls or something like that.

Susan M. Bell said...

Small world. I lived in Jacksonville, NC during most of the 80s, and worked in the mess hall on Camp Geiger, which I guess is really just an offshoot of Camp Lejeune, for about a year. My dad was also in the Marine Corps back in the 60s. I'm told he was in the Marine Corps band. Don't know if that's true or not.

Memories like that are the best. I remember my hubs, a few months before we were married, presenting me with a honeysuckle branch. He had climbed down into a ditch to get it, scrapping his hands on some thorn bushes in the process, because he knew how much I loved the smell of honeysuckles. Cheapest and BEST flowers he's ever gotten me.