by Elisabeth Long

Created on: November 05, 2009   Last Updated: April 02, 2011

Mostly I Remember the View

Morgantown, West Virginia, well, more accurately, Reedsville, West Virginia, was my new home. At eighteen years of age, I was a new bride. We were fortunate to rent, very reasonably, a spotless double wide trailer on a two-acre yard high on the slope of a gentle hill.

Every morning before dawn, I brewed coffee for his tall aluminum thermos. Every morning I made five sandwiches, sliced his favorite extra-sharp cheddar, added a treat of homemade cookies or pie, and packed it all together in his large aluminum lunch-bucket. These were daily offerings to my beloved; it was a way to prove my devotion to him, to prove that I was learning to be his wife, a good homemaker.

In the shadow of this dew-damp morning, I stood barefoot, shivering on tiptoes as he lifted me up to him, and kissed me with the passion of our new union. Waving, he climbed into his truck and bumped down the gravel lane as clouds of dust lingered, suspended long after him.

Giddiness washed over me in the silence of his leaving. Like a little girl trying on grownup clothes, I threw off this new role to hold it up and look at it. Skipping to the oversize crank window, secure in my own living room, I watched the sun climb up from beneath the trees, burning the cloak of mist from the soft shoulders of the valley. Despite so many recent changes in my life, this vision reassured me that I could handle anything.

After all, I whispered to no one, I have my prince, live in this castle and it's happily ever after...

As it had been every day that first month, my day was full. I was still unpacking wedding gifts and spending long hours finding the special place for each. Crisp linen and thick towels padded the freshly papered shelves of the hall closet. China gleamed in neat rows, displayed behind the glass of my mother's antique china cabinet, which she had ceremoniously passed down to me.

I danced from room to room, continuing the delicious game of playing house. As every closet, corner and cupboard finally grew full, I moved from a fairytale dream nearer to the world that was becoming real for me.

One special chore remained, saved for today, a very special day-our one-month anniversary. I had selected this day to finally open my hope chest and unwrap the treasures protected there for so long, to make each a permanent part of our new life.

My grandmother and my mom had helped me begin to collect items for the day when you become a bride from when I was just thirteen years old.

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