by Marquita Wanslow

Created on: August 11, 2010

In the era of the ninteen fifties the expectation was that when you got married, the marriage was forever. In our day, divorce was not part of our vocabulary. When our marriage started we expected it to end when death occurred for one or the other of us. So I have always believed that a marriage could last forever.

My high school sweetheart and I got married in my parents house in a small party wedding, then on the Ruidoso, New Mexico on our honeymoon. I was the first girl to have a house built for her for her wedding present. My husband was the first young man of his age that ever had a house financed. It was a precious little brick house; we were very proud of it and could not wait to start our married life there.

My husband and I furnished the house with a chair on cinder blocks, a TV, and a refrigerator that his Dad had given us. We brought my bedroom suite and my husband's bedroom suite from our parent's homes. The stove was a 1950 built in counter top and a built in oven. There was a breakfast bar between the kitchen and living room where we ate.

One of the men I worked with had his wife make us drapes as a wedding present. I had seven showers before we married, so I had practically everything and more that a new bride needed.

We worked really hard on our home, inside and out and eventually had a nice front yard. The back yard needed a fence. My husband was working away from home the better part of the time. One night, he was home and I invited his Dad to come for dinner. We started discussing plans for all we wanted to do, and I said “I wanted a cinder block fence around the back yard.” My husband said “if you can clear the back yard and get some grass started, I will build you one.” I said “you promise?” his Dad said “I will see that he keeps his promise.”

At the time I was pregnant with our first child and I could do the job all by myself. I called my cousin, I told him what my plan was and asked him if he would help me? He said he would help and he came over to the house. The yard was vacant except for mesquite trees and cactus. We dug up all the vegetation, then got a cross tie and pulled it across the lot until it was fairly even. Then we got dirt, fertilizer and put it out and smoothed it on the cleared lot. The next thing was to put grass seed on, and start the watering.

My husband came home after three weeks and grass was coming up. He said “well, I guess I got fooled,” “I

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