(p. 100) DID YOUR WEDDING CEREMONY INCLUDE A SPECIAL VOW TO EACH OTHER? WHAT WAS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IT?

We have a video tape that Bruce made - he was 16.

(p. 101) WHERE DID YOU GO ON YOUR HONEYMOON?

New York City. We took the train the morning after the wedding. Stayed in the Diplomat Hotel, which had been recommended by Ann. I would not recommend it for a honeymoon; maybe for New Year's Eve. It was in Times Square, very convenient for walking to museums and shows. We ate most of our meals at Nathan's hot dog stand. We saw Annie, A Chorus Line, and The Fantasticks. It was the pre-Phantom era.
The city was beautifully decorated for Christmas, which was cool.

(p. 102) WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST HOUSE OR APARTMENT TOGETHER LIKE?

It was a condo on Americana Drive, just inside the beltway in Annandale. The apartment complex was called TallTrees then. I bought it about a year after I finished nursing school, a few months before I met your dad. He had already written a contract on the Arthur Drive house, contingent on his selling his other house. We moved to Maryland in February 1980.
The condo was on the ground floor of a three level building. It had a patio in back. I had wanted to grow flowers, and I did for one summer. Dogs were allowed there. Our next door neighbor had two teenage boys , Jim and Jon, (Andy's sitters) and a big dog. She was a single mom who remarried just before I did. She helped us a lot with our wedding.
The apartment had two bedrooms and two baths. It was 800 square feet, about the size of one level of this house.
As I said, we soon moved to Arthur Drive, which you remember well. We had renters until you started crawling. You have heard some of those stories!! We stayed there sixteen years, for the most part loved living there, and got out at just the right time. God is good!

(p. 103) DO YOU REMEMBER ONE OF THE MEALS YOU FIXED AFTER YOU WERE MARRIED? HOW HAS YOUR COOKING CHANGED SINCE THEN?

I used to cook spaghetti sauce all day long, following Aunt Mary Nell's recipe. It's written down in my jumble of recipes upstairs and I'll try to find it for you. Prego hadn't been invented yet. .

One of my favorite early adult recipes, that I made for company a lot, was beef stroganoff. With rice, and often the asparagus, cheese, and triscuit dish, after we invented that.

I've always enjoyed making turkey with stuffing and gravy, and opening a can of whole berry cranberry sauce. Then making turkey, barley, and vegetable soup with the last of the leftover turkey.

Besides the microwave and convenience foods, another big change after marrying your dad was removing onions from my cooking. I'm sure I've been a pain for other people by not liking eggs.

(p. 104) WHAT DO YOU LOVE BEST ABOUT DAD NOW?

Much of the passage from First Corinthians 13, which we used in our wedding, applies to him, "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (Revised Standard version)

(p. 105) RECORD HERE SOME TRAVEL TIPS OR SUGGESTIONS FOR A FUN-FILLED VACATION.

I’m wanting your suggestions!

(p, 109) SHARE A FAMILY TRADITION OR MEMORY FROM THE FOURTH OF JULY.

(written later in July 2005)
Today we are shifting gears, either to be competitive or to be efficient. When your Dad got the book you sent him, he set out to write his story on the computer. Now that I've answered the easy questions, and haven't worked on this for awhile, I've decided to do the same, use the word processor.
I think you will find that I say more, and get off the subject more. There are some questions in here that need to be redirected. Mostly I want to get going again for you.
Well, this question is about one of my favorite things, the 4th of July. As a kid in Northern Virginia, we would buy sparklers and snakes at the local stands and set them off in the back yard. I can remember 4th of July (must have been 1952 because by 1953 we were on the ship on the way to Japan) on the patio of the Radnor Place house in Falls Church. A couple weeks ago, in July 2005, your Dad and I found the house again.
Funny, I don't have memories of July 4th in Miami Springs. We were there for eight years. Maybe ordinary people couldn't buy fireworks in Florida.
After I moved back to Northern VA, it was important to me. In 1976, the bicentennial, Andy was four. During the day, we took him to the old Ponyland, as I've already mentioned somewhere in here. Then we went to see the big fireworks. Someone told us that the VA side near Iwo Jima monument was a great place to watch. So we got there in the evening close to dusk. People had been camped out there all day, so no one wanted late arrivals standing in front of them. We were yelled at, and someone actually threw a rock.
We got through it, and in other years went into DC on the subway at the last minute, with no problems. One year we went directly from the water park at Cameron Run, remember?
In two recent years , your Dad and I went out I-66 to The Plains and enjoyed their fireworks. They also have an airshow, horse races, and nice family events.
Last year 2004 we saw them out in the ocean at Virginia Beach, after we visited William in jail near Richmond. I'd definitely like to do the beach fireworks again!
Calista Downey's annual 4th of July picnic on Richmarr Place (orange house) has been a long tradition that we've attended sporadically.

(p. 110) HAVE YOU EVER PARTICIPATED IN A RALLY OR DEMONSTRATION? WHAT WAS THE CAUSE? WHAT WERE YOUR FEELINGS ABOUT IT?

The Vietnam war was going on when I was in college, and there were protests going on. Vanderbilt policy was that anyone caught demonstrating would be expelled. I did not have strong feelings about the war then. I did march against the war after I moved to metropolitan Washington. It was probably the spring of 1968. It was freezing cold. I was not involved in the riots after the assassinations of MLK and RFK.

Allen and I did have antiwar black light posters in the basement of the orange house (1970 - on). “Suppose they gave a war and nobody came” was an example. Major Poynter and family lived across the street. Ann made a Raggedy Andy decoupage when Andy was born. After they saw our posters though, the friendship chilled.

(p. 111) WHO IN YOUR FAMILY SERVED IN THE MILITARY AND WHEN? DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL MEMORY OF THAT PERSON?

Both my parents served in W.W.II and married in England in 1944. As you well know. Mom’s father, Grandaddy Leatherwood, served in W.W.I. Mom made scrapbooks of her W.W.II letters and clippings, and converted old movies to video tape in the 1990’s. I think she realized she was losing her memory and had a great urgency to pass these things on. Her W.W.II experience and Daddy’s whole Air Force career meant everything to her.

I want to appreciate their sacrifices, but I have been protected, sheltered, spoiled ... whatever. God has kept me safe from violence. I hate war and really don’t understand how people can be so cruel to one another. Or how men love to watch war movies. I am glad, Andy, that you are antiwar, a peace loving person. I also understand that our freedoms need to be defended from time to time. It is a conflict for me.

(p. 112) DID YOU LEARN TO SWIM? HOW?

When we first moved to Miami Springs. The closest pool was at the Airways Motel on 36th Street near Aunt Mary Nell’s office at Delta Airlines. I had swimming lessons there. But I must have known how to swim or at least been comfortable in the water before that. The summer I was 10 I was swimming at the Reeves Hole in Bryson City (where they built the Baptist Church and banished us from swimming) and then at Big Rock. We lived at Virginia Beach briefly before moving to Arlington. When we got to Florida, I already had a love for the beach. Miami Springs built a municipal swimming pool on the other side of town, about three miles from the house. Admission was 15 cents until it was paid off, then reduced to 10 cents. I took lessons there too. Polly, Marta and I went to the pool a lot. On weekends mom liked to go the Tahiti Beach in Coral Gables. It wasn’t on the ocean, but you could walk to Mathison Hammock which was.

(p. 113) DID YOU EVER GO CAMPING WITH YOUR FAMILY? WHERE? RECORD ONE EXCEPTIONAL CAMPING EXPERIENCE.

I not go camping with my family, but I did with the Girl Scouts.

The best camping I remember was the summer of 1977, when I was in nursing school, living with Scott in the "tree house," Southern Towers. By the way, my apartment was on the 13th floor, facing north, with an awesome view of the DC fireworks and most of the other ones too. Scott had lived in New Mexico, in fact, he was the sheriff of Questa for a short time. We planned a vacation out there. Since Northern New Mexico is high altitude, we got in shape by walking up the stairs to the 13th floor for several weeks. Oh, to have those young knees and heart again!
In September we drove out to New Mexico in Scott's old van. It is such beautiful country around Taos and Santa Fe - I hope you go there sometime. We had backpacks and sleeping bags and a tent. As I remember, we stayed in a cheap motel every third night to get a shower. One of the best memories, besides the quaking aspens and the cool Indian dwellings around Taos, is the aroma of open air pinon wood fires. And sopapillas. You have to go.
Scott knew someone just over the state line into Colorado who lived without conventional electricity. They had a generator, but mostly used fires and candles and made their own music. Scott seemed to almost want to live that way himself, but not me.

(p. 114) TELL ABOUT THE MOST MEMORABLE TRIP BY PLANE, TRAIN OR SHIP

Hopefully, the most memorable trip hasn't happened yet. I'm waiting for you.
And I wish I had a better memory. I have told you about meeting Laurie (Quentin) for the first time when she was ten. Your Dad visited his kids every Sunday. This was one of the first times he took me. along. So Laurie brought out her picture album from her first trip to Europe to show to me. She was able to talk in detail about everything she saw, with a whole lot of history to go with it. I've admired both her intelligence and her kindness from that day, as I have since told her.

My first trip to Europe was the summer of 1978, with Grand Bear. I had just finished nursing school; she was treating. She wanted to meet some of my Daddy's relatives who still live in Stjordal, Norway.
I wanted to see the Midnight Sun.
We landed in Copenhagen and spent that evening in Tivoli Gardens, such a nice family place then, people riding bikes, a festival atmosphere. Then we went to Stockholm, where Mom got sick. We had dinner in a restaurant below sea level; she said she could feel the mildew attacking her and she was miserable for the rest of the trip. The next big city was Helsinki. Of course, I hadn't met your Dad yet to know of the Finnish connection. But Mom and I both liked Sibelius, especially Finlandia. We were there when they had their big Midsummer Night celebration. There was a huge bonfire on an island that must've been like Roosevelt Island in DC. Mom wasn't up to it, but I was out there to see the show... The next day we had planned to go see Jean Sibelius's house, a big attraction in Helsinki. But we found out that the morning after Midsummer night's Eve is like new year's here. Drunks passed out all over the streets and everything closed.

On to Norway. Three days above the Arctic Circle to see the Midnight Sun!!! I was out there at midnight all three nights, being eaten alive by Norway's gigantic mosquitoes, so in awe of the sun skimming the horizon but never going away. You have to see this too. God has given us a beautiful world!

(p. 115) DID YOU TRAVEL ABROAD? HOW OLD WERE YOU AND WHERE DID YOU GO? DID YOU TRAVEL ALONE OR WITH A GROUP?

Continuing on the same subject... My first travel abroad was July 1953, going to Japan by ship, the U.S.S. Darby. We left from NYC and went through the Panama Canal. The first few days I was upchucking, but then it was fun, lots of games and activities for kids. We saw a lot of whales too. We disembarked in Hawaii, saw hula dancers and awesome flowers. We were each given a lei made of real flowers. As we sailed away, we were told that if we threw our leis overboard, we would return. In late February 1954, sadly, our plane did stop briefly in Hawaii as we made our unplanned return to Washington, because Daddy had a brain tumor that proved fatal. No lei to throw overboard; I've never been back. Since we are going to Japan next year, let's break the jinx!

You know about our recent trip to Italy in 2002, the one the Evil Negative Tongue doctor told me to cancel. I figured if I was about to die, I was going! 3 1/2 years later, we're planning more trips.

The trip I wish I'd made growing up - In Girl Scouts in high school, our troop planned and saved for a year to go to Mexico. I was very good at reading Spanish but afraid to speak. My friend Polly didn't want to go; she talked me into not wanting to go either Dumb. I'm glad you went to France!

(p. 116) DESCRIBE THE MOST FASCINATING PLACE YOU HAVE VISITED

I can never describe it, but it's The American West. Sunrise and sunset over the Grand Canyon. The pink rock formations at Bryce Canyon National Park. Old Faithful at Yellowstone. The Rockies are so huge and wild compared to the Smokies. Also the giant Sequoias in California and the Big Sur highway. We ate at an awesome restaurant, I'm sure it is famous, on a cliff overlooking the Pacific. This was a trip taken around 1970, before Andy was born in a VW bug with our pugs Simon & Garfunkel. We stayed in cheap non-chain motels, trying to get a room for under $10. Only one motel operator got mad at us for sneaking in the dogs.

(p. 117) TELL ABOUT A DRIVING TRIP WITH YOUR FAMILY.

My, these questions are getting redundant. Here's an incomplete memory. I think it was the summer I was nine.; Mom and I were driving to Springfield, Illinois to visit my Grandmother and Grandpa Good. This would have been in the dark blue 1954 2 door Chevrolet. I was the navigator! We got off the main road (this was before Interstates), clearly lost, but Mom kept calm and kept telling me I could read the map and help her get back on the right road. I know I ended up staying with my grandparents that summer while Butch stayed in Bryson City. All my other cousins on Daddy's side were there. Except for Laurinda Lee, Uncle Bud's daughter, I've never seen any of them again, but have gotten Christmas letters and occasionally pictures from both Aunt Jean and Aunt Doris through most of my adult life. As of 2005, all Daddy's siblings are alive and doing pretty well.

(p. 118) DID YOUR RELATIVES COME TO VISIT IN THE SUMMER OR DID YOU GO TO VISIT THEM? WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MEMORIES OF THOSE VISITS?

Here's what I remember about summers and relatives-
1953 - age 7 - ocean voyage to Japan with Mom and Butch. Daddy had been there already for about six months.
1954 - age 8 - Daddy had died from his brain tumor March 5, less than two weeks after we returned. from Japan. In the summer we drove to our new home in Miami Springs. Aunt Mary Nell, a stewardess for Delta, already lived there. She lived with us most of the time we were there.
1955 - age 9 - spent about a month with my Grandparents Good in Springfield, Illinois. That was a fun time.
1956, 1958, 1960, 1962 (10, 12, 14, 16) spent about a month each of these summers in Bryson City with Grandparents Leatherwood. Sometimes Sara's visits would overlap. Mom's two brothers Uncle Robert and Uncle Thurman Joe lived in Bryson City. In those early years my grandmother ran a dining room as part of her Pine Tree Farm motel. Mercedith and Evaline worked for her the summer I was ten. They were both about 19. Mercedith , Uncle Robert (whom she married), Uncle Thurman Joe ( who married Evaline), and Granddaddy like to shoot their rifles up at the Wolf Den. Most of the time my grandparents stayed out of each others' lives. Their kids seemed to treat their mother with respect bordering on fear, and their dad with affection.
I have told you how he taught me to eat ice cream by the pint, right?
In the alternate years I don't think I went anywhere, until 1963, when I fled Dallas after I graduated from high school, in time to attend my real class's graduation. I spent the entire summer in Miami Springs, mooching off the families of Polly, Nancydee, Fran Ackerman, Nancy Worth, maybe more.

Grandmother Good visited us in Miami Springs about once a year. I remember one Easter in Miami Springs. In June 1967 she came to my college graduation in Nashville. She was amazing - spent a lot of time in her later years traveling to visit all her children and grandchildren scattered across the country. A much loved lady.

(p. 119) WHEN DID YOU LEARN HOW TO DRIVE? WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR LIKE?

In Florida we all had drivers education in 9th grade. No one got left out because classes were full, or the budget was tight, and this was before federal aid to education. We could get a learner's permit at age 14 after we passed drivers ed. So I drove very occasionally with Mom after that. High school kids in those days, in spite of what we've seen in American Graffiti, did NOT normally drive a car to school or have a car of their own. We moved to Dallas shortly after I turned 16. It wasn't until spring that Eeper gave me some driving lessons, so I could parallel park his big Bonneville. I passed the test shortly before turning 17. But I didn't drive at all the summer I spent back in Miami Springs or during college. I had summer jobs in Dallas when I was 18 and 19. Mom bought a used black Impala convertible for me to drive to work. This sounds so familiar, like it was already covered in another question...