On Thanksgiving I shared about my mother's letters from the 1960's. I had always known that my parents had a swift engagement and the letters just emphasized it. Before I handed them over to my brother and nephew (since they are carrying down the family line, not me) I read a few more and here are a few more fun tidbits in the chronology.

June 20, 1963  They met. See the above mentioned post.

July 14  "Peter (dad) is not sure yet that he loves me although I feel that in time he will. He keeps asking me to pray for him as he wants to have the honor of marrying me. Peter keeps talking of the things we will do when we’re married that I’m afraid he’s hooked although he doesn’t know it."


July 23 "Well the vacation did it. Peter realized that he was in love with me and decided to propose upon my return. Of course, he planned to do it on a moonlit night under the stars but I goofed up his plans this noon. He came for lunch and we were sitting. I looked so sad and he asked me why. I told him I was afraid he might leave me. So he proposed there and then. He couldn’t stand to see me unhappy."

Aug. 6 Letter from dad to Lolo asking for permission to marry mom. See other post.

They were married October 20th. Lolo did fly over from the Philippines to give mom away.


Some other interesting tidbits...

Mom tells her father that at this point dad's income is $725 a month.That's $8,700 a year. That calculates to $62,182 a year now. Not bad, dad. Good catch, mom.

They went to Alcapulco for their honeymoon, which was quite the destination back in the 60's. These days Alcapulco is considered one of the more dangerous Mexican cities.

In a letter of November 18, after they are married, they are shocked by prices for breakfast at a hotel.  $1.75 for pancakes, $.70 for oatmeal and $.30 for orange juice. That pancake price today would be $12.50.  Yeah, I guess that's pretty expensive just for pancakes.

It's no wonder I love the show Mad Men to see what life was like back then.

I stumbled upon the perfect Thanksgiving Day post.

You may recall my father remarried in June. My mother had passed away in 2008 and I was happy to see him find someone to share his last years with - someone that I like. And here we are at Thanksgiving with an expanded family.

It’s always just been my father, mother, brother, nephew, and me, with the last few years with my mom in the nursing home. Our holidays were quiet and small. Now I’m in my 40’s and suddenly have two new stepbrothers with their children and grandchildren. We will have 17 for Thanksgiving today. Yowza!

Betty has moved into my father’s home and this weekend is having her sons help her reorganize the garage. Once in a while I get an inquiry - “Do you want to keep this?” The nativity set is a no brainer - yes.

Then came a surprise. A plastic bag filled with letters from my mom to her family in the Philippines dating from 1953-1967. Crucial family history as that is the span when my parents met, married, had me, and eventually my brother. Curious how the keepsake letters stop at 1967 after Paul. I think there are more letters somewhere that are the Arabia years.  Then, in fact, my mother had also kept my letters home from boarding school and college which I also have. For now, these are a new found treasure trove.

In this day of technology, email, Skype, and Youtube, it is always interesting to stumble upon old letters. I’ve come across a few important ones to share.

There are over 20 years from 1963 alone, mostly because mom is writing to tell her folks about her new guy she’s dating and then eventually the plan to get married. From what I can tell, they met in June. The request to marry is the beginning of August. The wedding took place in October. That fast.

Mom always said she knew instantly and I’ve heard the story. She worked as a phlebotomist at a hospital in St. Catharines in Ontario (my namesake).  My dad worked nearby and would go to the hospital cafeteria for lunch. He would see my mother there. According to the letters, she was sitting with friends near the cash register and so as he passed by he snuck a look at her nametag and then had a friend arrange their first date. For my mother it was blind date. This is all written in the letter the morning after their first date.


The letter seen here is my dad’s written request for permission to marry my mother. It says, “I consider myself extremely lucky to have met such a wonderful girl and that God has been kind to me, to allow us to fall in love. I have never met a more unselfish person in all my life and I personally consider that she deserves someone far better than I am as I’m just an average person.”


My dad told me last night that mom never dated anyone else. This sort of concerns me. Most of us know today that relationships are full force at the beginning during the honeymoon phase and then settle down and change as time goes on. But back in the day I guess they thought love was a one shot deal. Seems so naive to me now, considering how many relationships and a few broken hearts I've had.

In 1964 I find the letter announcing my mom’s pregnancy with me. I guess I gave her a lot of morning sickness. Then in December, “After all that waiting, it’s finally over. I’m sorry to disappoint you but the baby isn’t a boy nor is she blond or blue eyed (my grandfather apparently didn’t understand the impossibility with genetics). She’s nice and big and healthy though. She has her father’s fair skin and a cute turned-up nose.”

I have a lot more to read through. I just picked dates I knew would be significant to start with.  I'll read through them and then give them to my brother to hold on to. He is the one who is continuing the family through my nephew and possible future children. The letters were a treat, though, on a family Thanksgiving, ensuring that mom stays in our thoughts.

This weekend I was Best Woman at a wedding - my father's. My dad, Peter, is 77. His new wife, Betty, is 75. You watch them, though, and you see young love.

Betty's husband and my mother died about the same time, three years ago, both after long illnesses. In the case of my family, it had been a difficult 3.5 years watching mom totally incapacitated by her massive stroke. My dad went to visit her almost every day during that time. So those 3.5 years and the last three have been hard and lonely for him. I am happy he's found someone.

Betty and dad met via the internet! They met via some kind of seniors Match.com site. I'll have to ask them the exact one so I can link it. They immediately felt a connection and their courting phase was short. Dad says they don't have time to waste. At least it gives my 45 year old self some hope.


They decided on a quick casino wedding in Reno to keep down on any over-celebrating by friends and family. I guess they kind of eloped. LOL. I was there due to my close proxity to Reno and Betty's granddaughter and her family came as well. While we were watching one of the acts at Circus Circus I caught this shot of them. This was something I never saw with mom. Not that that's bad. Every relationship is different and also time often subdues or curtails such public displays of affection. It was just kind of cute and sweet to witness from them.


I like Betty very much and her granddaughter's family also shows that this is good people. I can only hope, as any daddy's girl would, that my dad has many years of happiness to share with Betty this twilight of his life.