Forty-six years ago today, my Mom and Dad got married. Yesterday, the whole family gathered at Jennifer and Tom's house to celebrate their anniversary as well as Jennifer, Tom and Chloe's birthdays. It was the usual family get togother with lots of food and fun.
This morning, as my Dad was cooking the usual filipino brunch of fried rice with adobo and my Mom was slicing the cantalope, I asked my Dad how he proposed to my Mom. I was expecting to hear a short story of how he brought her flowers, got down on one knee, etc. Instead, my Mom told the proposal story plus the courtship and stories of her many suitors.
My parents met in San Diego at my Mom's cousin's house. There was a party to celebrate her cousin's daughter's Christening. One of the guests brought six sailors. One of those sailors was my Dad. My Mom brought her friend who recently found out that her boyfriend had a wife and kid back at home in the Philippines. A couple of days after the party, when my Mom returned to Toronto where she worked as a nurse, she received letters from three of the sailors. She didn't write any letters back, but my Dad was persistent in his pursuit. Luckily, he got stationed in Michigan and was a 2-3 hour drive away from Toronto. By his third letter, he was already proposing. To which my Mom replied, "I'll think about it." My Mom laughed as she recalled one of the lines in his letters a - "Pinch me, I must be dreaming..." That same week, she received flowers from a doctor who had a crush on her and a pastel portrait from my Dad. Her roommates teased her asking "Which one Fely?" Of course, it was my Dad who "made the hairs on her arms stand up"
My Dad proposed with a ring while they were sitting on a couch in her hi-rise apartment. After she said yes, they agreed that she would write her parents to get their blessing. Then my Dad spent the night at the YMCA. When my Mom's dad got the letter, he promplty sent my Mom's older brother to my Dad's hometown to verify that my Dad wasn't already married or had kids. (Oh, the days way before Google and Facebook!)
On thier wedding day, 150 guests attended. My Mom's dress cost only $45! My Dad's best man (a fellow sailor who was also from my Dad's hometown) couldn't attend because he was in the brig. Instead, my Mom's townmate who also lived in the same apartment building and courted her became the best man. After the wedding, they honeymooned at Niagara Falls and lived happily ever after.
