706. Today is our 61st Wedding Anniversary, the first without Wayne here with me!
Today is our 61st Anniversary, and the first one
without Wayne with me! I am posting what I
did last year, and also below about our 60th
Wedding Anniversary Party a few days before.
I'm spending the day with memories ---It's been
7 months and 3 days since he passed away.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015
502. Swedish Pancakes (recipe) for Breakfast for our 60th Wedding Anniversary today!
It is right now 6:37 a.m. and I can't sleep. So much has been going on in my mind about the last 60 years. When we were married in 1955, life was quite different. Wayne had returned home from the army, after serving there after his mission to Sweden in 1950-1953. He had the GI Bill which helped us get through college, and we were both ready to be married. He had turned 25 years old in the last week, and I was still 20, but would turn 21 on October 6th soon.
First of all, (in the present) this morning, after eating only blended food for 2 or 3 weeks, Wayne was able to eat a Swedish pancake, with apricot jam and whipped topping on it, without it being blended. The recipe for it, our family favorite, is:
Swedish pancakes,
4 eggs, 3/4 cup flour, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 2 tablespoons oil, and 1 tsp. salt.
Batter is quite runny. Cook on hot griddle, being sure to use cooking spray in the pan, turning over when top is no longer shiny. Serve with jam, jelly, syrup, or strawberries, and whipped cream. Delicious, and the favorite of all the family. This recipe serves around 3 people. You can double, triple, etc. the recipe. Whenever we get together, the family loves to have these Swedish pancakes, and they are easy to make.
The radiation for his esophageal cancer is working! He is just over half through. I have told about it in blog # 491, on August 29th, 2015. Also it is mentioned in blog # 499 on Sept. 18, 2015, his 85th birthday last Friday.
The blog # 496, on Sept. 12, 2015, tells about the family reunion on Sept. 5th, 2015, where all of our children, many grand and great grand children, and all of his twin brother Blaine's children came to celebrate (early) this 60th wedding anniversary! There are pictures of the family in the blog, # 496.
We met on a blind date in August of 1953. Wayne had just returned from his 2 1/2 year mission to Sweden, and I had completed one year at Dixie College. He lived in Murray, south of Salt Lake City, and I lived in St. George, and we were going up to a family reunion in Salt Lake. My best friend from St. George, Rosemary Snow Hasler, had married Richard Hasler who was a good friend of Wayne's. They wanted to introduce us. That night they picked us up at an old Church in the Salt Lake Valley, where I was at the reunion. I remember we were on an upper floor in some small recreation hall, and the first time I saw Wayne was when they came up the stairs to find me. That night the 4 of us rode around in their car, and the men talked about their high school days, etc. That was about it. At the end of the evening Wayne told me that he would write to me, as he was drafted into the army, and would go in the army the next month, in September. I told him "Pal Miles, St. George, Utah" would get to me. (It would in those days, and it did -- the next May!)
That winter I was very busy in Dixie College, and I didn't hear from Wayne for 8 months! He had gone to basic training, visited home in Salt Lake a time or two, and now was over in Trieste, near Italy. This was his first letter to me:
Trieste
I had a job waiting for me in Salt Lake after I had graduated with a 2 year Associate Degree from Dixie. I had loved Genealogy for many years, and I had gone up and taken a type test, and passed it. That summer I worked in the (old) Genealogical Library. We typed the old wide family group sheets and Temple index cards. How times have changed! Now you can clear names from the Temple right from your own computer (which wasn't invented in 1955!)
I waited to answer him until I had moved to Salt Lake for the summer. During the following winter I went to BYU, and we wrote letters. During that year I had a very strong impression he would be the one I would marry, when reading one of his very inspirational letters. A few years ago we published all our letters in a book, for our posterity.
I was working in Salt Lake again the next summer, when he came home from the army. We did get acquainted through letters well enough that when he got home we were engaged in 3 weeks, and married 2 months after that, in the St. George Temple. He started college just 12 days before we were married, so our first 4 years of marriage were going to college!
Wayne sent this to me during that winter of 1994-1995, while in the army.
This is a picture of me about the time we met on our blind date, in 1953.
First of all, (in the present) this morning, after eating only blended food for 2 or 3 weeks, Wayne was able to eat a Swedish pancake, with apricot jam and whipped topping on it, without it being blended. The recipe for it, our family favorite, is:
Swedish pancakes,
4 eggs, 3/4 cup flour, 1 1/2 cups milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 2 tablespoons oil, and 1 tsp. salt.
Batter is quite runny. Cook on hot griddle, being sure to use cooking spray in the pan, turning over when top is no longer shiny. Serve with jam, jelly, syrup, or strawberries, and whipped cream. Delicious, and the favorite of all the family. This recipe serves around 3 people. You can double, triple, etc. the recipe. Whenever we get together, the family loves to have these Swedish pancakes, and they are easy to make.
The radiation for his esophageal cancer is working! He is just over half through. I have told about it in blog # 491, on August 29th, 2015. Also it is mentioned in blog # 499 on Sept. 18, 2015, his 85th birthday last Friday.
The blog # 496, on Sept. 12, 2015, tells about the family reunion on Sept. 5th, 2015, where all of our children, many grand and great grand children, and all of his twin brother Blaine's children came to celebrate (early) this 60th wedding anniversary! There are pictures of the family in the blog, # 496.
We met on a blind date in August of 1953. Wayne had just returned from his 2 1/2 year mission to Sweden, and I had completed one year at Dixie College. He lived in Murray, south of Salt Lake City, and I lived in St. George, and we were going up to a family reunion in Salt Lake. My best friend from St. George, Rosemary Snow Hasler, had married Richard Hasler who was a good friend of Wayne's. They wanted to introduce us. That night they picked us up at an old Church in the Salt Lake Valley, where I was at the reunion. I remember we were on an upper floor in some small recreation hall, and the first time I saw Wayne was when they came up the stairs to find me. That night the 4 of us rode around in their car, and the men talked about their high school days, etc. That was about it. At the end of the evening Wayne told me that he would write to me, as he was drafted into the army, and would go in the army the next month, in September. I told him "Pal Miles, St. George, Utah" would get to me. (It would in those days, and it did -- the next May!)
That winter I was very busy in Dixie College, and I didn't hear from Wayne for 8 months! He had gone to basic training, visited home in Salt Lake a time or two, and now was over in Trieste, near Italy. This was his first letter to me:
Trieste
May 18, 1954
Dear Pal,
I'll bet you don't even remember me. I met you last summer in Salt Lake when Richard Hasler and his wife, Rosemary, introduced you to me. I thought I would write you a few lines in my spare moments, and tell you a little about what has transpired since our last and only meeting. I went back to Fort Ord and completed my basic training, and shipped out to Camp Kilmer, N.J. I left the states the latter part of February, and arrived in Germany the first part of March. They later sent my twin brother and I here to Trieste, which lies between Italy and Yugoslavia. We have been here two months, and I am finally getting around to writing to people I should have written to long ago. We have it quite good here. We only train half a day and work on issued equipment the other half. It could be worse. It is a long way from home, but I am used to being away from home being that I fulfilled my mission in Sweden previous to my induction into Uncle Sam's Army.
How's the world treating you? I hope you are well and happy. I enjoy seeing happy people. I enjoy making people happy who find it hard to remain so. When we enjoy the sweet blessings we receive because of our membership in the Church of Jesus Christ, that alone should be an incentive for us to get the most out of life. I get a little down-hearted sometimes because of how things go, but I don't let it get me completely down.
I can't remember what your full name is. You told me to just call you Pal, so I am doing so. Have you heard any news from Richard and Rosemary? I haven't heard from them for quite a spell.
Well, I'll sign off for this time. I hope you will write me a few lines and let me know how everything is with you. Seeing that you are a Pal, I'll sign off as a buddy.
Wayne
P.S.: Don't take as long as I took.
I waited to answer him until I had moved to Salt Lake for the summer. During the following winter I went to BYU, and we wrote letters. During that year I had a very strong impression he would be the one I would marry, when reading one of his very inspirational letters. A few years ago we published all our letters in a book, for our posterity.
I was working in Salt Lake again the next summer, when he came home from the army. We did get acquainted through letters well enough that when he got home we were engaged in 3 weeks, and married 2 months after that, in the St. George Temple. He started college just 12 days before we were married, so our first 4 years of marriage were going to college!
Another picture of Wayne in his full army uniform.
This is a picture I sent to Wayne when he was in the army.
This was taken on our honeymoon in Zion's Canyon.
Today we will mostly stay home, but go to a good movie this afternoon. We would go to the Temple but it is closed for cleaning! The day we were married, we came out of the Temple and it was raining hard! That was unusual for St. George. We had crepe paper streamers tied to the car, and they were wet and fading, but we had a wonderful day, and a lovely reception that night. After a 2 day honeymoon (all we could afford) back to school!
Since then we have had 9 children, 29 grandchildren, and 14 great grandchildren. They now live in Oceanside,California, Mesa, Arizona, Menan, Idaho, Bountiful, Utah, Eden, Utah, and St. George and Santa Clara close by. We aren't able to travel and visit them now that Wayne is on dialysis, but we love it when any of them come and visit, or call or write!
This was taken around 2 years ago. We have changed in 60 years!
WE LOVE ALL OF YOU, AND KNOW THAT YOU ARE THE REASON FOR US BEING HERE, AND GETTING MARRIED--EXACTLY WHEN WE DID! YOU ARE THE JOYS OF OUR LIVES!
Posted Saturday September 12, 2015
496. Our 60th Wedding Anniversary Party last Saturday, Sept. 5th, 2015.
Just a week ago today, we were honored by our family, about our 60th Wedding Anniversary, which will officially be on September 24th. We were married Sept. 24, 1955, in the St. George Temple. This post tells some about the celebration on Sept. 5, 2015, last weekend, on the Labor Day weekend when all could come. Most of the following is from an e mail I sent to family and friends, together with an update on my husband Wayne's health.
From left to right, Wayne M., Delsy, Anita, Allen, McKay, Pal, Wayne, Angie, Tacy, Pam, and Jeremy. We are wearing the shirts they gave us 10 years ago on our Golden Wedding. They have a picture of us when we were married and the inscription: September 24th 1955-2005, and also "The world is ours, we have each other". That last phrase is from a song that Delsy and I wrote almost 40 years ago, when we lived in Sandy. This is our "family song", in SATB. If any of you would like a copy, I have a PDF copy I can send to you. I tried to put it on this blog, and it won't take it. Please e mail me at: paralee.eckman@gmail.com
This picture was taken last September 20th, when we celebrated my 80th birthday (which is actually Oct. 6th). It is a more clear picture.
This was taken during the program that the family had planned. First of all they showed the video which link is above, and during it they played the song "Goodnight, Irene". Wayne chimed in and sang with it! That song was popular in 1950 here, and when Wayne went on his mission to Sweden, it was also popular there, translated into Swedish! That has been a family joke since then. Our son Wayne sang "Time in a Bottle", and the decorations on the tables were family pictures inside a bottle! Then it was "open mike" and most of them told favorite memories. I'm sorry I couldn't put pictures of all of them on here, but they are on the 2nd link from google, above.
Family pictures in bottles in the center of 8 tables.
A view of the craft table Delsy set up for the children, and those helping.
We had several tables set up with photos. This table was a "free for all" to let anyone have any picture there. I wanted to have them gone from boxes! Most of them were taken by the time we finished!
When we get together, our family loves to play games. This is one of the tables. One time I saw 3 tables each with 8 to 10 playing games.
This is Emily and Wayne, her grandpa. Emily took all these pictures. Thanks!
To all of you who were here last Saturday for our 60th wedding celebration, it was so wonderful, and it will be such a choice memory for both of us. All 9 of our children were here, and all 7 of Wayne's brother Blaine's children were here, plus many grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Wayne's identical twin brother Blaine passed away 16 years ago last March. His children call Wayne "Uncle Grandpa" We didn't try to include anyone else, as that was around 70 people.
This picture, (also blurry) shows all 9 of our children on the back row, and the 7 children of Wayne's twin brother Blaine, on the front row with us. There were many other grandchildren and great grand children there. If you want to see any of the pictures taken here are the links that Emily (our granddaughter) sent, to the pictures she took: (I seem to get the ones from google better, but the drop box ones are great also. Thanks, Emily!)
Dropbox link directly to the video for Grandma and Grandpa (works better if you download it first): https://www.dropbox.
Google Drive link directly to the video (you should be able to see the whole video without downloading it): https://drive.google.com/
This was taken during the program that the family had planned. First of all they showed the video which link is above, and during it they played the song "Goodnight, Irene". Wayne chimed in and sang with it! That song was popular in 1950 here, and when Wayne went on his mission to Sweden, it was also popular there, translated into Swedish! That has been a family joke since then. Our son Wayne sang "Time in a Bottle", and the decorations on the tables were family pictures inside a bottle! Then it was "open mike" and most of them told favorite memories. I'm sorry I couldn't put pictures of all of them on here, but they are on the 2nd link from google, above.
This week has been one just resting up, and putting away some of the books, etc., that we had on display. Grandpa Wayne had dialysis Monday, Wednesday and Friday (today). He had the radiation starting on Tuesday -- through Friday. He has the radiation at 8:15 in the morning -- Monday through Friday from now on. We go to a place only about 5 minutes from here, and his radiation takes about 15 minutes. He says that so far he hasn't had any pain, but some tiredness. A time or two he had driven himself there, but once he mentioned he was rather tired after radiation, so I'm insisting on driving him. On the 3 days he also has dialysis at 11:40 a.m., until I pick him up at 4 p.m. This weekend will be the first weekend he will have both Saturday and Sunday without either radiation or dialysis. That will be the schedule from now on. He is happy about that as there are quite a few football games on Saturday coming up!
This afternoon after dialysis he did mention a little while that he was feeling something in the area of his cancer -- which is at the top of his stomach. I thought it may be a sort of pain, as the doctor said that during the radiation he probably would feel some discomfort ? around the cancer area, as it will become a raw sore inside as the radiation shrinks the cancer. There will be medicine we can get which should help sooth the pain or whatever -- types of stomach acid helps, etc. I wondered if this was the beginning of that, but tonight he said it was a bit hard breathing for awhile, so I'm not sure what it was. But that may increase as the radiation continues. He has had 11 treatments so far.
He will be done on October 8th, so he has 22 treatments left, which makes him a third of the way through. The doctor said that after radiation is done it will take a few weeks until he is actually feeling better, and then they probably would do another PET scan to see how effective the radiation has been. We hope he doesn't have to do chemo, and the doctor has said that it may not be advisable because it would be very hard to coordinate chemo with dialysis, even in his body chemistry, etc. But this radiation should make him able to eat again. For the last 2 weeks or so, I have to blend everything he eats. It becomes very soft, and smooth, and probably doesn't taste too good as we have to avoid salt for his dialysis. But he can enjoy sweets, and so we have a mild dessert most days.
We probably won't be going many places except those two health treatments, and Church for a few weeks. I do the driving, and try to make his food as edible as possible. I have been tired also, but I'm starting to get rested up.
Our real wedding anniversary will be September 24, for 60 years. We'll probably do something at home that night. I'll include more pictures of our lives together on Sept. 24th.
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