It is very appropriate that I found this little jewel at this time of year, the season of Christmas and the marriage of Dwight Blood and Velna Black. The above pages are from a little spiral notebook that Mother had, where she recorded various things, including sayings, quotes, and these pages that tell a story about the trip I took with her to see Dwight and Velna married. Sorry we don't have the dates, but we know that they were married on the 18th of December (correct me if I'm wrong.) The bottom two pages represent the cost and mileage that our trip took. I was a senior in high school, but didn't have my driver's license, so Mother had to do all of the driving. She finally took a nap in Wheatland. We stayed overnight in the home of Velna's parents, Pearl and Volney Black. The next morning, we started for Salt Lake with Dwight driving. Velna and her parents went by train. by the time we were part way across the State of Wyoming, the snowstorm commenced - it was almost blinding in intensity (at least that's the way I remember it.) Dwight was nervous, and very worried that we wouldn't make it to Salt Lake in time to get the license...If we didn't get the license that Friday, there would be no way to get one until Monday, and the temple was closed until Tuesday. I think we made it to the courthouse with 15 minutes to spare, and Dwight met Velna there. (By the way, you will note a couple of the gas purchases were made by Dwight - see the (D) after the purchases.)
I stayed in Dwight and Velna's room in the Hotel Utah across from the temple and lighted temple grounds. There weren't lots of extra lights on the grounds, but it was beautiful with snow drifting down, and lots of snow on the ground. My evening was miserable because I ended up with a blinding migraine, which didn't go away until the next day.
The $4.00 motel had paper for walls, and I hoped that Mother could sleep because I couldn't because of all of the noise - people talking, etc. We woke in the morning and went to pick up Louise in Provo - where pansies were blooming! The trip home was still exciting for me because we went over South Pass. Louise slept all the way home - or so it seemed.
As you can see, we took the whole trip for less than $30. Mileage on the car was kept on the right hand side of the page.
The pages above these two tell a different story - the one on the left lists extra costs for the trip. (I think we took home-prepared sandwiches and the old red water jug.) The list on the right tell the story of Christmas that year. We bought a Christmas tree in Basin - small enough to fit in the trunk of the car. I'm still trying to figure out the outing flannel purchases. Was that for pajamas, or to back a quilt or what????? I'm sure that more of you can add to this story. Please do.
4 comments:
What a gem. And since it is near my anniversary it is all the more poignant and memorable. We all got along and made a good life out of so very little in those days and it didn't ever occur to us that we weren't rich because we knew we were. Thank you Elizabeth for finding and posting this gem.
Elizabeth and I just had a fun conversation about this, she was curious what I got for Christmas that year, can't remember.
Mom was really good at keeping records that is for sure.
Such a neat record of a special time. The only thing I remember is when Mother, Louise and Elizabeth finally made it home to Penrose. We were afraid they weren't going to make it because of the weather. What made it magical was the Christmas tree in the trunk and "stuff" we couldn't see. Why not? It was just a suitcase with clothes in it!
Was that the year that I was left in charge of the house and I froze the pump? Or was it the next year when Louise went to Idaho Falls? This little record tells so much about our mother, Dwight, Elizabeth....more than just numbers and miles. All of these details draw us closer than ever.
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