Boyfriend to Husband

Tom and Dot 1971, a photo by midgefrazel on Flickr.

Boyfriend to Husband

When Steve came home from Viet Nam, we got engaged and set a date for our wedding. While he was overseas he had ordered this new car (see below) and while he was away my father wanted to go to the car dealer in Providence and look at the car. On the way there, he told me that he (my father) bought a new car just before he left for World War II and his brother was in charge of it while he was gone. Uncle Bill bought the car from him eventually because my mother already owned the Ford. 

Since I don't like cars, my father was trying to get me excited about this cute car. My father thought it was going to be a brighter blue. I couldn't drive it anyway because at that time, RI drivers had to take their road test on a standard transmission car to get an unrestricted license. Steve's mother was very disappointed in the car and my father in law loved it. She asked where we we going to put "the baby" in this tiny car? My father in law loved everything that was for bachelors. It was a good lesson for me that the generation above mine was not going to be happy with decisions we made.

The photo of my parents and the photo of the new car were taken the same day with a 35 mm camera that Steve got cheap at the military store (by catalog order). I was more interested in the camera than the car. I love the photo of my parents because it was taken in the back yard of their house and on an ordinary day. I am now much older than they were in this photo and my husband looks so young.

Steve's new Car a Volvo 1800e, Summer, 1971