Honeymoon Sweet. By Jen Donier

Well as I told you in Growing up Hillbilly Years my dad had a hard time with his daughters growing up and me being the oldest he did not like the idea of my leaving at all and getting married well that was another thing altogather.  Though he would talk of the day when he would someday have grandkids. I think he just did not want to believe it was closer than he thought. 

Well after our first date on my husband to be's twenty first birthday, we dated and drove around after he got off work listening to his car radio, and he showed me a lot of places he had lived, his old schools and took me out to meet his dad.  His mom was not at home at the time as she had gone to be with her oldest daughter for a month who had just had her first baby.  

 I stayed a couple of nights at his folks place and slept in his sister Ruth's room.  AJ and his brother never had a bedroom of their own but had to sleep in some part of a rather large but very cluttered living roomwith an odd assortment of furniture and bric a brac.  Left alone during the day with AJ he showed me around the farm at Newberg and his favorite spots.  Then having nothing to do I looked around his dad's house and told him. We are cleaning this place up. I made him help me move stacks of old newspaper and magazines and broken chairs and all kinds of other clutter out to the barn or down to the basement.  I made him kill all the horrible brown recluse spiders his dad let have webs all over the house.  I am surprised none were ever bitten by one.  His dad was an entimologist and did not let his family kill spiders or insects.  But I loathe spiders and am very afraid of them. 

After we got the house clean it took us about three hours of hard scrubbing and cleaning.  I started on dinner.  I understood that usually he or one of his siblings would eventually cook dinner and they often ended up eating around nine p.m at night.  Ha not with me around, I liked meals long before bed time.  The house sparkling and the kitchen clean and smelling of a good cooked meal, I remember baking two apple pies his siblings got home from school first and stopped in shock when they saw the house. 

William his brother saw his bed had been moved into a partitioned off more private corner, but his main concern was, what I had done with all the loose change he had been tossing under his bed for over a year.  He found it filled over a half gallon pickle jar and was in a nice safe place.   Then he saw that I had dinner cooking and sniffed appriciatevly when he smelled the pies.

  About twenty miutes later my father in law to be got home.  He stepped in the door and looked around then roared " Where the hell is all my newspapers, magazines and other stuff"?   Well having come from a knock down drag out get it out and off your chest all at once family I stood right up to him and said. "Where it belongs, In the basement, the barn, the shed or in the trash." " Now wash up dinner is ready."  I was scared to death but did not dare let him know it.  I had been warned of course that he was not going to take it kindly that anyone had messed with his order or rather lack of order of his house.  He was the law and everyone did what he wanted.  He looked at me, then stomped out the back door and out to the barn, then he stomped from the barn to the shed and the shed down to the basement.  He checked the trash and then came in washed up and said let's eat.  Finally AJ asked his dad what he thought of the house and everything.  His dad groused, "looks fine and nothing important missin'."  , "Oh and dinner is best I have had in a long time."  Then he gave one of his really rare smiles and turned on his record player.  

With that AJ wanted to have me go outside for a walk under the spring stars it was March 13th and Friday.  1970.  We had been dating almost three weeks by then but had known one another and been on group dates for over two years.  He took me out under the stars and we watched meteors fall and discovered his sister and brother trying to sneak up on us.  He told them to beat it and so they slunk off aways.  Then he took me into the barn where the cows were for the night.  We fed them and did the chores and he leaned over and was talking to me.  Then I sai," well we have been going togather now for three weeks and you haven't even tried to kiss me."  He had been brought up very old fashioned and he said, "Well! I have been meaning to ask you something anyway."  So waiting I asked, "What?" thinking he was going to ask me to kiss me.  He said, "If I kiss you I want you to understand it means we are betrothed to get married."  Jeepers, that sort of took me by surprise but well really I thought,   I was 19 and was ready to be on my own and wanted to get married and already knew he was the one.  So I said "Well fine"!  And he kissed me this little peck.  That was it! His brother and sister began to cheer and then he said, "Well, will you marry me???  I said, "yes of course I will."   At which we got another round of cheers.  But then I said, "on one condition"  He sort of looked surprised and said, "what is that?"  "Well!  if want to marry me you have to give me a better kiss than that."  Then his siblings really roared as he grabbed me and planted a really good smooch on me.  His dad had come to the back door hearing all the ruckus that the kids were making and hollered. "What in the Sam Hill's going on out there"?   We all laughed and then AJ grabbed me and we ran to the house and he told his dad. "I just asked Jennine to be my wife!"

His dad tried to tell him he was too young and AJ reminded him that he was 21 and did have his own place and we were there just for the weekend so that he could bring me to meet them.  AJ had Thursday and Friday's off and Saturday.  Sunday we drove back to town and he took me to where I was staying and he went to work.  The next weekend we drove to Grants Pass Oregon to tell my parents who had moved down there for awhile to help my Uncle Frank.  My mom was excited though she had hoped I would marry this other guy she liked and wanted me to be with I had dated the summer before a couple of times.  He was ok but not my type and she was a little disappointed but then she began planning the wedding. 

We told her we wanted to get Married on April 12th her and Dad's wedding anniversary.  She said fine.  She got a wedding dress and they told me I had to stay with them for the month to get everything ready.   I got a job for a couple of weeks as a care taker for this elderly lady so her regular could have a two week vacation.  I had nights off but stayed at her place.  I wanted the extra money to buy shoes and get my hair done etc.   Mom arranged for a pretty gazebo in a nearby park and got a minister from the church she was going to, to officiate at the nuptials.   T

Then a week before the wedding AJ came down as we had to get blood tests and some other things.  Well he drove his little Nash Rambler down and Dad drove him out to where I was with this lady and it was my second to last day there.   I told AJ I could go with him in about two hours if he could wait.  My dad however began to get weird and told AJ he had to leave.  AJ told him he was not leaving until I  was able to go too.  So my dad went out and drove off in AJ's car.  My mom was gone somewhere and Dad went home and  called me and said if I did not do as he said the wedding was off. 

Ok I was 19 and going to be 20 in August.  I had already been on my own and had worked at three jobs as a caretaker.  So who the heck did he think he was.  I told dad.  No!  He said; " well I want you to get married; I just want you to post-phone it until your birthday".  He tried to reason with me saying,  it is only four and half months away."  I told him No again,  Because Mom had everything arranged and invitations had already been sent out and what was his big deal".   He slammed the phone down and then he called all the places we had booked or orders in and cancelled them.  He did not tell mom what he had done until much later and then told her I had cancelled everthing, she and I learned years later in talking that dad had lied to both of us.  But he did call back and told AJ he was not getting his car back and he could find another way to get back to Portland and to work.   AJ had to get back to work by Sunday night,  it  was Friday.   He was under contract with Uncle Sam as a conciencse objecter and working for Goodwill in a military capacity.  If he did not report to work he would be considered AWOL and could be arrested and my dad knew it.  I hated to break my mom's heart and not let her have the wedding she had always dreamed of for me and hated giving up my real wedding dream but I sure was not going to let dad bully me around any more and I knew if I had  given in he would have tried another stall tactic when the next date got close.  So we asked the hired hand who helped my lady to drive us into the bus station.  I packed what few things I had and we caught the bus to Portland, Oregon.  AJ had another car there a Buick.  

He took me to his bachelor apartment and we stayed there for about a week and a half while we applied for a marriage license and got a hold of his mom.  His mom did not want him to marry me because she thought I was someone else she did not like.  His dad did not want him to marry me because he wanted AJ to marry this other girl his mom did not like who had a similar name only her name was Jeannie and my name is Jennine, His dad wanted AJ to marry her because she was half Cherokee and said when they had kids that they could get benefits then, which I thought was really tacky.  My dad wanted to postphone it for four months and I knew it was just a stall tactic and the only one who wanted me to get married was my mom and dad would not let us talk to her.  So AJ asked his boss at Goodwill to stand up for us and He took me to Goodwill and I picked out a little White dress and veil there.   On April 20th, 1970 with only his boss and the JP's secretary as witnesses we got married in Vancouver, Washington.  I had picked some little purple flowers for a pathetic bouguet tied with a purple ribbon and we were man and wife.  I had mixed emotions because I had dreamed of a nicer wedding and know my mom was hurt and disappointed and let down.  We all got cheated out of that by two dads who wanted to keep control on their grown up kids.  AJ's mom was happy when she learned I was not the one she thought I was.  We have always got along well.   

Well we had to wait for two days to go on our honeymoon and not having a lot of money and having only one week off by his boss.  AJ asked where we could go.  I told him I wanted to go to my parents two acre cabin in Trout Lake Washington and to see my Grandma who lived in White Salmon and to see my Uncle and Cousins who all lived in the area too.  I knew dad and mom would not be around until later in the summer.  So I drew  in red lipstick across the rear window "Just Married"!   AJ tied on some balloons and streamers.  I packed bedding, clothing, food and utinsels.  Knowing there was not much at the cabin and it would probably be a bit dank after being closed up for months.

It was a 60 mile drive from Portland, Oregon to Trout Lake and we got there around 6:00 p.m after the stores and everything had closed and it was getting near dark.  You had to cross a creek bed to drive into the cabin and I forgot about the snow run off in the spring.  Well we got to the creek bed and AJ saw the creek running and so got out and check to see how deep it was.  He figured if he floored it we could make it across. 

We did fine.  We pulled up to the back door of the cabin and it was full dark by then.  We had flash lights so we got them out and I pushed open the cabin door and the unused musty smell of being long closed up hit us.  It was cold and a bit damp.  Then Aj went out to unload our stuff while I rummaged around in the cupboards for matches, newspaper and kindling I knew was always ready.  I found the lanterns and lit them and started a fire in the stove.  AJ came in and said we had a leak in one of the tires and he didn't have a jack to fix it as he had them in the car my dad had kept.  Nice.  Well now what?.    He said;  "Oh I just stuck a pencil in some oil from the car and jabbed it into the hole,  It stopped leaking for now."  "We have a spare just no jack so we can get it fixed at the station in the morning."   

With the lantern lit, the tire temporarily fixed and the stove finally going we looked at what was to be our honeymoon bed.  An old couch that made into a bed.  AJ went to lay it in the bed position and one side kept hanging up and would not go down.  Then when he got it to go the other side would hang up.  Finally with both of us working at it we got it down right and I made up the bed. I had packed some sandwiches for supper to eat and we ate those with a can of soda and climbed eagerly into  bed. 

We were  getting settled down and listening to the night sounds when we heard next to the bed in the cupboard, crunch,  crunch, crunch!  I whispered "there is a mouse in the cupboard."  AJ climbed out of bed and with the flashlight shining jerked the cupboard open.  The mouses eyes gleamed red and it skuttled into a hole behind the cupboard.  He switched off the light and climbed back into to bed and were making out as any newly wed couple usually does when Crunch Cruuuunch Cruunnch! we heard again. I whispered, "it's back.";  "I know", he said. "ignore it." 

"I can't it bugs me".  resignedly he got out of bed again shivering in his breifs. And hunkered down by the cupboard with a peice of stove wood ready to bop it. He reached up and eased the cupboard door open, still hearing the crunching sounds he slowly stood up and raised the peice of wood and turned on the flash ligh, t the mouse jumped out at him and ran down his leg and under the door outside, he gave a yelp when that critter skittered down his leg and looked hilarious hopping around in his underware, I could not help gigling.  "Well it it gone now", he said grumpily.   "Good now maybe we can get some sleep I told him I am tired."   "Tired???"  "Yes!" I said perversly,  "and I am going to sleep." He glared me and stomped to the stove in to fix the fire and shut it down for the night then  climbed into bed again.  "You sure"?  he asked hopefully, reaching for me, Welll!. 

Again we were getting into it pretty heavy when we heard once Again , CRUNCH!  CRUNCH! CRUNCH.  He groaned and got out of bed, he had not closed the cupboard from the last episode and had left the wood on the counter.  He saw another mouse eating at the stale crackers in the cupboard, he smacked the wood into the cupboard but missed.  The mouse squeaked and jumped out onto the bed. I sat up slapping at the covers and finally we got it and then I told him not to kill it. He looked at me like I had lost my mind.  Then he opened the door and muttering that it was too bad we had not brought a cat along, leg it loose outside.  After that we had a pretty peaceful and normal night for two newly weds on their honeymoon.  

Next morning I wake bright and early and tell him to wake up, that is when he really learns I am usually a morning person and I was in my element and on my home ground now. He however is a night person even to this day and he pulled the covers up around his ears and turned over to sleep some more.  I put on some water in the pot we had brought along for making hot chocolate.  Then told him he had to get up cause we  were going to take a bath, with that I meanly pulled all the covers off him.   "Bath, where"?  he said.  "In the creek of course>"  I told him.   It was Late April and the creek was running full with snowmelt.  I knew of a great pool deep enough and not to fast running to bathe in.  So knowing there was no one around for a couple of miles I ran buck naked through the wooded copse to the creek where the bath area was.  I had a couple of towels with me.  He followed minicing along in his barefeet and I jumped into the water and started washing with the soap and scrubbing my hair.  He is standing scrunched on the bank holding his bathrobe around him shivering in the cool morning air and I tell him come on it the water is great.  I was used to this having done it lots of times when living in the cabin in earlier years. AJ looked at me dubiously and then reluctantly took off his robe and stepped into the water.  I splashed him as he stepped in and he was out of that water and on the bank and running for the cabin in two seconds flat. With me laughing crazily at him.   Well I finished washing my hair and went back to the cabin where he had got dressed and he told me In a very firm, no nonsense tone, "NEVER EVER AGAIN !"  was he taking a bath in the creek in April.  I just laughed it felt invigorating to me. 

After a breakfast of hot chocolate and oatmeal we got into the car. We drove the four miles to the gas station and AJ left the tire to get fixed and they put on the spare.  I then took him to my school and showed him off to my former schoolmates having quit school the year before I got my GED and so knew they would be there, I was very proud of my husband.  I took him to show all my old teachers then we went to my Uncle Ben's and I introduced him to my Uncle and Aunt. They gave us a set of dishes for a wedding gift before we left that they never used, which I thought was great because we did not have much. 

Then we went to my Uncle Don's and Aunt Clara's and I introduced him to them as well. Aunt Clara fixed us some coffee and gave us some cookie and then she brought us a beautiful quilt she had made and said it was their wedding gift to us.  We visited both families for about two hours each and had spent the lunch hour at the school and eaten lunch there.  After our visits we picked up the tire and the gas station attendent told us he found a pencil that had made the tire go flat jabbed in it and had to pick a lot of splinters out of the tire but it was fixed and he charged us $10 for the fix.  AJ did not say a word as to how that pencil really got there.  With the flat fixed we drove 25 miles to White Salmon to see my Grandma. She was happy to see us and she had us drive her into town where she bought us a new toaster.  We stayed for dinner there and then drove back to the cabin in the moonlight.  That night was a goodnight and was not disturbed. 

The next morning I could not talk him into taking another cold bath with me but  I enjoyed one anyway he fixed breakfast and then I told him I was going to fix some chicken and things for dinner.  It was then we realized I had only packed the one pot. Oops!  Well I cut up the chicken and opened a can of olives we brought and a can of mushrooms and  can of tomatoes I added seasoning too it and set it on the back of the stove to simmer for a couple of hours.

We then went exploring the old haunts and favorite places I loved and I took him to some of the lower huckleberry feilds and the Cheese and Butter caves and the Bat cave.  When we got back the chicken was done and AJ asked me what I called the concoction.  I told him since the Olives looked like giant huckleberries I was going to call it Chicken Olallie.  Olallie means Berry in Chinook. 

The rest of the week we visited cousins  and explored other favorite places of mine. Ate out at a couple of resturants and then drove back down to Portland.  In August when his service was up we moved from Portland area back to Husum where my grandma rented us a house and my husband got his first real job as a logger.   But not before we had to live in our car for a week until we found another place to live and not before we had to move again did this happen both two other stories. 

People predicted our marriage would not last a year but we are heading for 37 come April.  I am the only one of the four of us kids who has never had a divorce.  We work at our marriage every single day.  I love him  a thousand times more now than I even imagined back then.