The Marriage Proposal
The poem I wrote Warren mentioned how he proposed to me on that sandy beach. That sandy beach was in Galveston, Texas. We were on a plaid blanket on the beach on a moonlit night. I still have that blanket in a chest. We were young and so much in love and marriage seemed the thing to do at the time. We didn't stop to think how we would live or how we would be able to buy the things we needed, much less the responsibilities of a marriage. We just knew that we loved each other and wanted to be together.We did not make any definite plans at the time. The "wedding plans" were born on Friday night, the 18th of July in 1958. We were at the Ranger Drive Inn in Houston. I remember Warren asking me what I wanted to do the following night. I told him I didn't know and that it was up to him. The next thing I knew, he had a coin in his hand and told me that we would flip the coin to decide what we would do on Saturday night - heads, we would go to a movie and tails, we would get married. Tails, it was!The details escape me after these many years, but I do remember going to Gordon's Jewelers on Saturday morning and buying a wedding ring. We charged that ring because we didn't have the money to pay for it. It was a band with diamonds on it. (We later returned the ring. Not because we didn't want it, but because we could not afford to make the payments.)We told my Mom that we were going to the Balinese Room in Galveston that night and that I would be spending the night with a girlfriend and wouldn't be home. (Of course, I had to tell her which girlfriend, but I can't remember.)I put on my prettiest dress that Saturday evening and Warren picked me up at the house. We drove to Richmond to get married. I don't remember getting a license or a blood test, but I remember standing in a room with a Justice of the Peace. I don't remember the exact words that were said. I do remember that when the ceremony was over, the JP pulled out some sort of a toy - a mechanical toy of a little boy and a potty chair. The little boy would sit on the potty chair. He told us that he hoped we were lucky enough to have a child that would get on a potty chair. Good grief!!We headed back to Houston. We were coming in on Old Spanish Trail and were looking for a cheap place to spend our wedding night. We found one - the Kings Motel. The neon flashed, "$6.00 a night and TV included." Who could pass up a deal like that?(Oh, a memory just walked across my mind. One of my best friends was Anita Williams and she was going with Jerry Grizzle. Warren was good friends with Jerry and it was Jerry that introduced me to Warren. Warren was the blind date I had which is another story that I will tell later. You know, I think Anita and Jerry were with us when we got married, but I cannot remember for sure).Sunday morning we called my folks to tell them we had gotten married. I remember that Mom answered the phone and I asked to speak to Daddy. Well, she knew then that something was wrong, because I never asked to speak to him. I told him that Warren and I had gotten married and he told me to get my ____ home. I remember that we stopped at a drive inn on the way to my house and Warren bought a couple of beers. Needless to say, he drank the beers before we hit my house. Mom asked me why we did that. She said she liked Warren and we were both "of age" and there was no reason to elope. We didn't have an answer for her. I gathered some of my things and told them that we would get the rest of them when we got settled. There was no anger, just shock.Jerry's parents had a garage apartment that was vacant and that was where we would be living. The address was 40 Glover Street in Houston, Texas and we would be paying $40.00 a month. Warren made about $75-80 a week and one check was all we had. Surviving would be the word to describe our first year at 40 Glover Street, but that's another story.