Memory fades with age as with most all other faculties. Rather than to attempt to write a narrative about my life with Mary, I shall try to relate some of the things I remember pretty well. If I mess up the chronology, so be it.

Mary’s family went to the Lutheran Church all her life. It was ordained that we should be married in that church. We attended the Lutheran Church for a while, but I was dissatisfied with the ritual.

“You Lutherans have way too much getting up and down, what say we try the Presbyterian Church just down the street,” I suggested. She agreed and tried it and joined after a few months.

We made do as newlyweds in our little shack on the edge of town. Winter demanded that I bring home a gallon of fuel oil each night so as to cook and keep warm. It soon became a priority to find a better place to live. Years after World War II apartments for rent were scarce. We were fortunate that a cousin of Mary had a small place for rent. We took the place and lived there until we got out own house five years later.

Mary worked at Hart Jewelers before we were married and continued her job for a time afterwards. As a wedding present, the jeweler gave Mary a set of silverware, entirely out of place in our shack but enhanced our apartment.

We lived like newlyweds in our apartment for nearly a year, and then pregnancy interrupted our blissful thoughts. We talked over the situation and agreed that Mary should give up her job to begin preparing for family life. We could live on my salary. I’d received raises and expected more. And so Mary traded her store clerk job for that of a housewife and mother to be. Our five-year apartment life was a productive one. Within two weeks after moving to our new house our family of four children was complete.

From the birth of our firstborn, my mother-in-law (Bessie to me, Granny to the kids) played a significant role in our family life. The baby was only a few days old when Bessie spoiled him by picking him up from his crib and cuddling him when he cried out. She claimed that he had colic. It was only after three days of Granny’s absence that his colic was cured – by neglect. Afterwards she became a real fan of all the children, and loved to be with them.

It was many years later that Granny spent Christmas Eve alone because the kids insisted that she spend the night at our house and play with their toys with them on Christmas day.

Since Granny enjoyed the kids, Mary felt free to have her mother sit with them now and then while we were away. We’d eat supper together and leave them to their own devices. It was at meals that Bessie and I would argue about all kinds of things. We could argue through many meals about the same subject. One of our favorite subjects was competition. She thought it was a bad thing while I tried to convince her that without it there would be no incentive to make things better or affordable. She must have taken her stance from the Bible, Acts chapter 5 where Peter formed a commune of believers; but that was a small group who pooled their wealth to survive in a big hostile world. I don’t remember ever resolving an argument, but we had lots of fun with them.

To be continued.