Category Archives: Outdoor world

Young Love (#65)

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With Nate’s Army camp graduation only a week away, we could envision the day when we wouldn’t have to “converse” in letters but could talk face-to-face. Meanwhile, I “borrowed” another old photo from Mom’s albums, since Nate seemed to enjoy them. There was much we still didn’t know about each other’s childhoods.

tom-and-margaretJuly 17, 1969 – Dear Lover. Enclosed is another “oldie,” this one of Tommy and me on a family vacation in St. Petersburg, Florida – 1950. The dress is a bit revealing, but I didn’t have much chest to hold things up in those days. Today Marti and I talked hour after hour, some of that time cooling off at the beach. I wish you could have unlimited water like that, too. Only one more week and it will be yours! You’ve done so well there – in attitude, stamina, and spiritual faithfulness. What an encouragement and strength you are to me for being those things. The Lord surely must be smiling on your every effort.

July 17, 1969 – Dearest Meg. I’m so proud when my friends here ask me about you. I know my fiancée is the finest in the universe. I am so anxious to marry you! And I have loved your descriptions of what life will be like when we are married, your stories. You have an excellent imagination and ability to write. And thank you for working so hard on wedding plans. Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. We’ll make the rest of the decisions in August. Deciding things together isn’t so difficult.

July 17, 1969 – Dear Nate. I think I found my bridal gown, the one I’m going to get! I tried different veils on, too, so beautiful. Mary, Mom, and Aunt Agnes all went with me, and we made a party out of it. It was so much fun. The only problem was that as I stood looking at myself in a 3-way mirror all ready to walk down the aisle, I wanted to marry you immediately! It’s so hard to wait.

encouragementJuly 17, 1969 – Dearest Meg. Thank you for the many greeting cards and tremendous letters you’ve sent. When I get those words from Meg on a bivouac at night after chow, my morale soars. Thank you very much. I’m sorry my letters take so long to get to Chicago. I get yours in about 2 days. And I love every one of them!

July 18, 1969 – Dear Nate. Dad and I had “the wedding talk” about money. I asked if I could have the same amount of money as Mary had, and he said something that proves how strongly he approves of our marriage. He said that whatever I spend is up to me. He just said I should use common sense and after I do, I can get whatever I really want. So I’m going to run out and buy that gown I want! He’s the greatest – and so are YOU!

July 18, 1969 – Dearest Meg. We had a hard day in the field today. After all day in the hot sun, they botched up the water supply. Each of us got only one cupful from afternoon to evening. That was a little nasty. Also, one of our flares set off a grass fire, so we had to work hard to put that out. Your letters after all that were the best morale boost in the world! Every day my love for you grows. Everything about you pleases me.

July 18, 1969 – Dear Nate. We are breaking heat records here in Chicago – 98 degrees with humidity just about as high. I feel for you in heat like this. But I pray that the Lord will continue to be a refreshing energizer to you. He’s aware of every bit of your suffering, pain, or even just discomfort, and sympathizes, because He went through all of that Himself and more… all the way to death. I know He appreciates your positive attitude through it all. And I do, too!

“Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10)

Young Love (3)

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During the summer of 1968, I traveled back to southern California to spend a third summer with our cousins there. Nate followed ROTC’s lead into his first compulsory summer of Army training, this one at Ft. Benning, Georgia.

Because my degree hadn’t been in elementary education, my teaching position in the Chicago Public Schools required ongoing adult education classes toward certification. I enrolled at Cal State for the necessary classes to assure I’d still have a job when September came. An increased distance between Nate and I didn’t dampen his enthusiasm at all.

Quietly he “upped” his commitment by beginning to save and re-read my letters(which I now have). And I began answering his mail more often. But since I was still signing my letters with just my name, he stopped signing “Love, Nate” and returned to “Your friend, Nate.”

June 15, 1968 – Meg, I think back to last June, in the early part. I remember going to a movie with you, and you wore a pretty yellow dress. Then I saw you this last January, and your hair was cut shorter. You were still very nice. I remember you and think a great deal about you. Have a good time in California. Perhaps I can see you again in late July or August.

postcardJuly 1, 1968 — Meg, this is it. (Postcard picture, right.) Hot and dusty. Obedience and discipline. It’s like being forced to go out for a varsity sport. Am I tired. Next week: swamp bivouac. We were briefed on the snakes yesterday. If you talk at mess, they take your food.

July 4, 1968 – Hi, Nate. I hope you are finding that the Army offers you a few benefits. I’m sure your good attitude and ambition have found them, if there are any.

July 13, 1968 – Dear Meg. Tonight I am answering the phone in Company Headquarters. Last Tuesday we crawled under machine gun fire in mud and water. Never been so dirty, cold and wet in my life. But I kind of liked it.

army-report

July 22, 1968 – Nate, you sound sincere in your comments about being in the service. I’ll be leaving California after the first week in August. Do you think you’ll be passing through Wilmette at all in August?

July 28, 1968 – I won’t be able to see you in August, since I’ll be with a friend in Florida, visiting him and his family. But you know I still think of you, don’t you? Perhaps I can see you in the fall after law school resumes and you are teaching again.

August 19, 1968 – I do look forward to seeing you again some time, Nate. I shouldn’t say that, though, because I don’t want to “lead you on.” So I say it with reservations. Please understand, ok? I do want to thank you for being patient with me. When I ramble on about (the other guy), you never tell me to stop. He and I are complicated and are getting deeper with each other. But that means there’s more pain, too. It’s like I’m grieving or something. But in all of this, I can’t help but think favorably of you.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” (Proverbs 16:3)

Collecting Jewels

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Today was a beautiful beach day, something special for Michigan in mid-October. Though the water was cold, the sand was warm, and I had no trouble setting aside my chores for an hour at my favorite place.

Arriving without my beach-buddy of 70+ years, I missed Mary more than ever. But the rhythm of the waves brought comfort, and as I sat in the sun with my eyes closed, my mind drifted back to February of 2014. When Mary received her diagnosis, we heard the word “pancreatic” and jumped to the conclusion she had only 42 days to live…. as Nate had.

But God did it differently this time. We were blessed with three more summers with Mary.

I’m deeply grateful for those bonus beach days next to my sister and for all the words that passed between us during those months – hundreds of conversations we didn’t anticipate having. And as I thought about that today, I knew God was nudging me to feel grateful rather than gloomy.

beach-stonesSo I got up and did something Mary and I had done every summer of our lives. I walked the shoreline hunting for pretty stones, filling a small bag in no time. The way we viewed it, certain rocks were as stunning as jewels, and we have stone-laden shelves, drawers, and closet floors to prove it.

About a week before Mary began her rapid decline, she texted me one morning. “Want to come over and glue some stones?”

When I arrived she was struggling to create a stone-covered votive candle holder.  The challenge was to glue the narrow sides of the rocks to the glass rather than their flat sides. But the stones kept sliding away, ending in one gooey mess after another.

Finally we decided to turn the holder upside-down and start backwards, letting the stones rest on each other as we built them from bottom to the top – which was actually top to bottom. And it worked!

img_4015After making two votives, we celebrated by consuming half a watermelon between us. Neither of us knew this would be our last stoning project, because in less than a month Mary would be gone.

Today, as I walked along, all I could think about was my sister, who was far, far away. While I was picking up rocks, what was she doing?

Then God reminded me that Scripture mentions a “sea like crystal” in heaven, which means there’s probably a beach there, too. Is it possible that every stone on that beach, every grain of celestial sand, is an actual jewel, sparkling in the light of the Son? If that’s true, then I think I can safely say I know what Mary was doing today.

“In front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” (Revelation 4:6)