Newlywed Love (#114)

Posted on December 1, 2017 by Margaret

November 1, 1970

Today the delectable smell of chocolate filled the air as Cathy and I made our first attempt at dipping candy in her kitchen. Though failures outnumbered successes when we began, each of those lopsided pieces was thoroughly enjoyed — because we ate them all.

Eventually we got the hang of it, learning exactly how hot the dip should be so the chocolate would go on not-too-thick, not-too-thin. And we left our balls of crème centers in the refrigerator till the last minute when the chocolate was ready.

Quite a few pieces ended up at the bottom of our dipping pan, but Cathy’s husband John volunteered to fish them out – then made quick work of them. We did grab a few, however, for me to take home to Nate.

By 1:00 AM we were looking at nearly 200 pieces of finished chocolate candy. Some were dark, some white, and some milk chocolate. All in all, we were both pleased – with the candy and also with each other.

Cathy and I were doing well in building our friendship, and on this night, she helped me make an important decision – about a possible masters degree.

Cathy was part way through her own masters program at the University of Illinois and said, “Grad school is nothing like undergrad. Students are left on their own a lot, so that means less boring time in class. Mostly you just work at your own pace.”

That sounded pretty good.

As we continued to dip and talk, she said, “Why don’t you just apply? After all… what could it hurt?”

There were those same words Nate had used, and by the time I climbed the stairs at home, I’d made the decision. Nate was delighted to hear it and encouraged me to call Dad the following day to see what he thought. “He might be willing to go to Northwestern to pick up an application for you.” *

And so, Nate and I moved one step closer to defining our vague future. When we finally headed for bed, he watched me find a note he’d pinned to my pillow with a simple but precious message: I missed you.

What a pleasure it was to be married to Nate.

“Love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.” (Romans 13:10)

* 7 miles from his home

Newlywed Love (#112)

Posted on November 15, 2017 by Margaret

Tomorrow we’ll be starting our holiday celebrating a week early by taking a trip to Iowa to visit Birgitta, Emerald, and Spencer.

We’ll also be spending time with Nate’s brother Ken (below).

After that we’ll get to have Emerald with us for a week in Michigan, and before we make our turkey dinner, she and I will be busy catching up on granddaughter adventures.

So, the 1970 Newlywed year of Nate and Meg will have to conclude after the Thanksgiving weekend — about 10 days from now. But before I sign off for a while, let’s watch these two meet the first baby in the family….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

October 24-28, 1970

After our apartment research project in Chicago, Nate and I made a bee-line for my family – and especially baby Luke, now 9 days old. We brought our Super 8 movie camera to record his every move and couldn’t wait to get our hands on him.

Actually, it was mostly me eager for that, since Nate was unfamiliar with babies. I don’t believe he’d ever held a baby, nor was he a natural with children. He worried about hurting little Luke if he held him, and I assured him babies were more durable than that.

When we finally got together with this little one, it was every bit as thrilling as I’d anticipated. A new baby! Right here in our family! I couldn’t think of any greater blessing. He looked just like his daddy, which was appropriate, since they shared a middle name: Charles.

I coaxed Nate to hold him, which he did reluctantly, but Luke performed perfectly. The evening flew by with our family baby becoming an even bigger hit than Mary’s delicious apple pie.

I loved watching Mary handle Luke. She seemed to glow with a special happiness I hadn’t seen in her before.

As Nate and I got in the car to head toward Mom and Dad’s for an overnight, I expounded on the good movies I’d gotten — an entire reel.

The next day was Luke’s debut at Moody Church, and we watched from the sidelines as he and his parents were swarmed by well-wishers. During our family lunch at a restaurant, it was my turn to hold him as he slept and admire his flawless skin — and oh that sweet baby scent. When it came time for us to say goodbye, our departure was difficult – until the whole group promised to come to Champaign for Thanksgiving. That made it easier.

Once we were home, Nate returned to his grueling studies, and I went over to Cathy’s house to begin making Christmas candy. Our goal was to mix 6 batches of different crème fillings and then leave them to chill in preparation for dipping on another day. And we did it!

Much later, as Nate and I were readying for bed, I asked if he could drop off the movie film at the camera shop the next day. Longing to see and touch Luke again, I knew watching the movie would help.

When I opened the camera, though, I was stunned to see we’d shot 50 feet of pictures without any film! “I feel like I’ve just been robbed!” I said.

“Well,” Nate said, “at least you still have the movie that’s inside your head.” Though he was trying to encourage me, as always, I could have kicked myself for such an “expensive” oversight.

“Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Newlywed Love (#110)

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Margaret

October 20-23, 1970

As the days passed, we didn’t see or hear from either Cathy or John. Our history had been to check in with each other frequently, and it wasn’t unusual for us to get together 3-4 times a week.

But our last conversation had ended badly with unresolved tension over the differences in our spiritual beliefs. As Nate and I talked about it further, I got an idea that was probably from God. Never once had Cathy and I done something apart from our guys. So I thought I’d reach out to her just one-on-one, two wives trying to be friends.

Nate thought the idea had promise, so I called Cathy. We talked without any strain, and then she came up with a great suggestion… a way to spend time together while also being productive. As a team of two, we would home-make all our Christmas gifts.

The next day she came over for coffee, and neither of us brought up her amorous professor or the subject of open marriage. Instead we listed gift ideas that would be inexpensive and fun to make – candles, chocolates, simple sewing items, and maybe some knitted things.

Cathy had a natural ability to organize and troubleshoot (skills I lacked), so she would assemble our supplies, and I would develop the ideas of how to use them.

A few days later we began by melting chunks of wax in my double boiler, coloring them with stubs of broken crayons I’d gleaned from my school’s waste baskets. At the end of the evening, we had several finished products and were ready to run a test on one of them. Hopefully it would actually burn.

It lit right up, and our victory shout was loud enough to bring Nate from his paper-writing. Never mind that the candle burned down twice as fast a store-bought version. It had a flame, it was a candle, and we were thrilled.

Gradually we worked out an efficient assembly line and were churning out all kinds of candles, no two alike — some thin, others fat, and some hand-shaped in rough-looking balls. When they were all lined up on my pull-down ironing board, they were an impressive sight.

But best of all was that Cathy and I had deepened our friendship without a hint of tension. As we parted, we set a date to start making chocolates.

“I know how to do hand-dipping that will look as good as Fanny May!” she said. Both of our extended families loved chocolate candy, and we couldn’t wait to get started on Phase 2 of the Christmas Gift Adventure — and to continue growing a new friendship.