My mom had her picture on the cover of the local newspaper a few days ago. Her story started ever-so slightly 'above the fold' as they say in journalism lingo. If you know this term it will help demonstrate what is considered important in my neck of the woods. Or maybe it was just a slow news day.
Anyway, my mom is not wanted by the law and she did not discover a rare bird or find treasure hidden in her attic. The story is just a story about, well, love. All kinds of love.
When the story was published I received emails for friends and family. "That was a good story about your parents, somepinkflowers," Greg wrote. "Now I know where you get that bug to travel."
"You have GOT to put that story in your blog," demanded Michele.
And, so on, tons and tons of email pouring in from all around the world. [<---- this could be an slight exaggeration.]
I am not going to copy the story word for word but here you go, the headline read, Opportunity Knocked, so Palatka Woman joined the WAVES. And, here is part of the story:
Prominently displayed in a window of I. and C. R.'s house in Palatka during World War II was a blue star.
There were hundreds of thousands like it across the country and the star meant 'This house had someone serving.'
In the R.'s case, it was their daughter, B., who was serving in the U.S. Navy WAVES--Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.
As B. (my mom) cheerfully admits today, it was only by chance she ended up in the WAVES.
"I wasn't even thinking about the WAVES." My mom explained in the story. "I went to Jacksonville (Florida) to take a test so I could apply for war work. I wanted to go to Washington, D.C., of all places."
After exiting the testing office my mom passed an office with a large poster of Uncle Sam pointing his finger declaring "We want you."
"These young people came out of the office" my mom said, "and talked to me about the WAVES. I knew my mother and dad. I was only 19 years old and they would not approve. But when I told Daddy he was thrilled to death because we didn't have any boys in our family to go to war."
So my grandfather, my mom's dad, signed the papers allowing my mom to enlist in the WAVES.
"It was a wonderful opportunity. I was just a small town girl who wanted to get out of Palatka, but I didn't have the nerve to just leave on my own." My mom explained. She knew by joining the WAVES she could free up a man to fight in the war.
My mom was sent to Hunter College in New York for training. She took a train to get there. "It was the first time I had ever really seen spring come and go, " she said. After training she was stationed back in Florida where she met the man that would become my dad at a U.S.O. dance. My mom must have been a charmer because this smitten sailor wanted to get engaged right away.
"Just because we're engaged doesn't mean I'm not going to see the world," my mom told the man she would later marry. She ended up being in the third contingent of WAVES sent to Hawaii.
"The worse part was the trip over, " my mom explained. "We left on a troop transport from California and it was terrible. We zigged and we zagged for safety across the ocean. We didn't want to get blown out of the sea by enemy submarines."
Once stationed in Pearl Harbor my mom worked in personnel. "Every sailor that checked in at the base had to come through me."
At one point my mom was so lonely she prayed every night for "someone to cheer me up."
"You would not believe how my prayers were answered, " my mom went on. "One morning the U.S.S.Lexington docked a couple of blocks from my barracks and guess who came to see me? My sailor, the man I would marry!"
They spent the next 12 days seeing the island sights before my dad's aircraft carrier headed for Japan. My mom spent her entire 2-years duty in Hawaii.
My dad was discharged from the Navy before my mom. He returned to North Carolina to be with his family. Before my mom left Hawaii she left letters for my dad with friends still stationed there. Every few days my dad got a letter from my mom in Hawaii. Only she wasn't. So, while my mom was discharged in New Orleans and traveled on home to Florida, my dad thought she was still in Hawaii.
He arranged to come south from North Carolina to meet his future wife's family, to be there waiting for my mom when she returned home from Hawaii.
Oh, brother.
When my dad knocked on the door of his future in-laws' house, my mom surprised him by answering the door.
"Come on in, " my mom said laughingly. "Come on in."
My dad dropped his bags, hugged my mom and said, "What are you doing here? I thought you were still in Hawaii!"
They were married a few months later, years and years went by and I was born, and then a few years after that my sister was born. This was and still is, with several much-loved additions, my family.
To this day my parents live not very far from where my mom waited in secret for my dad to come find her. I can picture her waiting behind that door, waiting for love to come walking through. That was over 60 years ago and my mom remembers it like it happened last week.
So this is my Valentine's story, a story of all kinds of love...
My mom's love for her parents, my grand-parent's love for their daughter, my mom's love for her country, my parent's love for each other, my love for everybody involved and my love for this story of all kinds of love in our family.
I hope this mushy-love just washes over you and makes you smile. I hope, also, that you have opportunities to discover the romance here and there tucked away in your own family history. This is the stuff of love songs and romance novels and movie dreams that make the world go 'round.
Plus, now you can see why I am a travel slut, ready to see the world one little bit at a time or in one huge jump. Whenever I can. I am just a small town girl who likes to get out of town, just like my mom.
[Special thanks to Marcia Lane for writing my mom's story for The St. Augustine Record. The black and white photos are from my mom's huge family stash and the old Valentines are from mine. Everybody loves love and I love that they do. xoxox]
wow, what a wonderful, romantic story! Doesn't get much better than that. I love that she was hiding and waiting for him!
Posted by: kacey | February 12, 2008 at 08:44 PM
oh my dear spf - just... well golly...
what a love story - what a Mom, Dad and family
and what a sweet sweet spf story of love
for Valentine's Day...
well...
I have to agree - it doesn't get any better
that this...
and what a gorgeous Mom and Dad
and a somepinkflowers Valentine
just stopped in my tracks here
holding my bustin' out heart...
somepinkflowers...
xox - eb.
Posted by: eb | February 12, 2008 at 10:25 PM
you know...
you are SUCH a romantic...
spf
xox - eb.
Posted by: eb | February 12, 2008 at 10:27 PM
This is indeed an endearing, touching and very sweet love story. I love the fact she can, after all these years, still recall those moments as if they just happened. Isn't it incredible to know that your parents have endured the years? My parents were married for 56 years when we lost my Dad, I was always proud that even though they could drive each other nuts now and then...the love was always there. Thank you for sharing this very special Valentine post.
XOXO
Posted by: Lisa Oceandreamer | February 13, 2008 at 01:40 AM
What a beautiful story! And your parents are adorable. They look just like they were the stars in Anchors Away or something
Posted by: Shin Young | February 13, 2008 at 03:21 AM
Oh, what a sweet, sweet romance story! Your mom sounds like an amazing person :)
Posted by: Felicia | February 13, 2008 at 05:18 AM