On our wedding day, October 24, 1981
Okay...sit and expect to be entertained:
Okay...sit and expect to be entertained:
Even though we went to bed tired, and early, last night, I could not get to sleep.
My mind was trying to put my story about meeting Wheelie in order.
It brought me way back to 1969, and it took me about an hour to get all the events in chronological order. There are still some memories that are too vague and where I'm not sure about the order of times and the places, so I'll try and keep it simple.
:>)
I will have to backtrack as far as 1969 though, just to make this story as fantastic as it really is.
Puri and I were still married. My son had not been born yet. Wheelie and Puri worked for the same record company at the time. Wheelie was married and had two kids, 3 and 4 years old at the time.
The very first time I met Wheelie and his family was at a birthday party for someone at work. This lady lived in a beautiful house somewhere in Marin county in California.
The only thing that I clearly remember from that event is that Wheelie and his family were, well, to put it mildly, off the beaten path.:>) They stood out. They were different.
Wheelie sported a long red hair pony tail, and had a huge red handlebar moustache. He smoked a pipe. His wife was tiny, his children were two little fireplugs with red hair. The girl had the thickest hair I had ever seen on a child that age, she had a braid down her back that was as thick as my wrist.
The adults spoke French with the children, which I thought was a bit over the top. *rolls eyes*
After that day I did not see him much, as we had other couples we hung out with on a regular basis. People not as hippy-ish as the Towns were.
The next time Wheelie popped up in my life was when we all went down to Santa Cruz where we were invited to a record store opening. There was this fellow, a tug boat captain no less, who wanted to start a chain of record stores, and since he lived in Santa Cruz, that's where the first store was.
I remember it was a hot day. Old Blue barely made it over the pass in the Santa Cruz mountains, and I kept myself cool by holding my skirt over the AC vent in the car. :>)
Much to our surprise, Wheelie showed up with one of the ladies that also worked at their company. A very tall MUCH younger woman (younger than ME even!), with a very assertive attitude and suicide shoes.
(Those wooden platform sandals that were so popular in those says)
I will call her Tall Chick just for this blog. I hope she will forgive me for that, as we became and still are, good friends.:>)
It turned out that Tall Chick and Wheelie were having an affair. hmmmm....we didn't think they were suited for each other and we were all very surprised.
But hey, this was the 60s...
In the years that followed, Puri and Wheelie became close friends and we all spent time together, the boys usually listening to music, playing 'drop the needle' and such.
They introduced new and exciting (to them) composers, like Sibelius, Arnold Schoenberg, Bartok, John Cage, Charles Ives.....
Puri was pretty much just into Opera at the time, but Wheelie got him to listen to other stuff as well.
When my son was two, I left Puri and went back to Holland for 3 years.
While I lived in Holland, Wheelie went to work for the tug boat captain, and managed his store in San Francisco. It was a record store which only sold classical records. He loved that job, he ran the store with an iron fist. He organized "in store" visits with very famous artists, like Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Beverly Sills, famous pianists, conductors....
In 1976 the tug boat captain took all his store managers and his buyers on a tour of Europe. Minnesota guy just HAPPENED to be one of his buyers. I met the gang in Amsterdam where we spent the day. We stayed at the Marriott that night, and thinking back this was one of those situations in life where you later think: WOW...how on earth?
Here I was, in my very fancy room, in the room next to me was Wheelie, in the room on the other side was Minnesota guy...Never in a million years did I think then that I would fall in love with both these guys....makes you wonder....
When I came back from Holland, hoping to try and salvage my marriage, Puri didn't have a job, nor did he have a place to live.
So we camped out at Wheelie's house for the time being.
When we finally found jobs and an apartment, my stuff from Holland arrived. Since Puri was not very gifted in the way of manual labor, we hooked up with Wheelie, who rented a panel truck, and drove us to the San Francisco docks. We got the customs stuff taken care of and were told we had to move everything out of the crate, disassemble the crate and not leave a speck of dust behind or we would be charged a hefty fine.
No problem!!!
Wheelie single handed and in no time emptied the crate, which had our beds and dining room set (IKEA) and our other stuff. He then proceeded to take apart the crate, put the Styrofoam pellets in large garbage bags, and low and behold, left the dock spic and span!
At the apartment he proceeded to put together the furniture, and hang the lamps. Something Puri wasn't able to do.
I marveled at Wheelies ability to just roll up his sleeves and get stuff done. He moved up a few notches on my admiration stick.
The reunion/marriage did not last long though. We were eventually evicted from our apartment. You see, our darling little son who was five at the time, managed to tick off our apartment manager, who overheard him say something gross to his daughter. The man was a born again Christian and extremely prude. He kicked us out. No if, ands or butts.
Puri and I moved to another apartment, but it was around that time I met up with Minnesota Guy. Well, you've read that story.
We finally got a divorce, and went our separate ways.
After my son and I moved back to California from Minnesota, and after a few months of trying to get back on track as a single parent, I got a letter from Wheelie telling me he was coming to town.
He was living in New York, working for Polygram at that time.
Before that he and his family were in Chicago, where Tall Chick decided to leave him for a younger fella, and the kids graduated from high school and went back to live with their mom in California.
I hope this isn't too confusing. Yep, we all moved a lot!
So there we were, both of us licking our wounds, being extremely vulnerable and needing a friend.
I welcomed the idea of hanging out with him for a few days. My son and I were living in a flat, the top level of a very nice house, in Oakland.
Wheelie and I had a great time, and little sparks were starting to fly.
One evening we talked until two in the morning. We ended up doing, of all things, a crossword puzzle, neither one of us wanting to make the first move.
But we were sitting on the couch, our knees eventually touched and VIOLA!
*LOL*
I won't divulge what happened then, but you can probably guess.
He left the next day to visit his kids up north, his mom in Oregon, and then he was going to a job interview in Seattle with a small record company. After that he went back to New York.
I missed him immediately, we started corresponding. We wrote each other every day, and called each other every night. (Yes, I still have ALL those letters!!!)
He started to WOOooo me...(I had never been wooo-ed before!!!) had a dozen long stemmed roses delivered to me at work, small gifts came frequently, and the LUV bloomed.
Who would have thought!
He visited me in late July. In September I received a letter where he proposed to me...(I had never been proposed to before!!!)
Of course I said yes, and so it began....
He took the job in Seattle.
He put his stuff on a moving truck and came to California, where after a mad rush to get our marriage license, our blood tests done, on October 24th, 1981, at seven o'clock in the morning, we were married in a Redwood grove. The lady who married us was a justice of the peace. She was a friend of mine from the Ashram. She was supposed to run an intensive that day and seven o'clock was the only time she could get away.
It was an interesting little ceremony. Very sweet. Very quiet. It was still dark. The energy in the Redwood Grove was magical. We said our vows with only our children present. A very casual affair, but at the same time, very special.
Afterwards we went home and got ready for a little reception for our friends. We picked up a few huge cheese cakes and a crate of champagne and enjoyed a fabulous time with our family and friends.
Wheelie and I went to Seattle on our honeymoon, and to look for a place to live.
We found a wonderful home on Bainbridge Island. Life was looking up. Everything was just perfect!
A week later we loaded up a truck with my belongings. I am still puzzled how Wheelie got my 10 foot couch down those stairs by himself, but he did.
We drove up north to say goodbye to the kids and pick up the dogs. Wheelie had two Basenjis, who had been living with the kids.
The three of us drove to Washington. The first day was tough, the dogs were freaked out, but settled down the second day and pretty much slept on the floor of the cab for the rest of the way.
So there you have it.
And so our married life started. Wheelie had the killer job, vice president of production of a small record company. I stayed home with my son, befriended a wonderful neighbor with her kids, and life was perfect.....
I think I'll leave it at that for now...
If you're still reading this....thanks...it has been very nice to pull up all the old memories....
SGMKJ!
My mind was trying to put my story about meeting Wheelie in order.
It brought me way back to 1969, and it took me about an hour to get all the events in chronological order. There are still some memories that are too vague and where I'm not sure about the order of times and the places, so I'll try and keep it simple.
:>)
I will have to backtrack as far as 1969 though, just to make this story as fantastic as it really is.
Puri and I were still married. My son had not been born yet. Wheelie and Puri worked for the same record company at the time. Wheelie was married and had two kids, 3 and 4 years old at the time.
The very first time I met Wheelie and his family was at a birthday party for someone at work. This lady lived in a beautiful house somewhere in Marin county in California.
The only thing that I clearly remember from that event is that Wheelie and his family were, well, to put it mildly, off the beaten path.:>) They stood out. They were different.
Wheelie sported a long red hair pony tail, and had a huge red handlebar moustache. He smoked a pipe. His wife was tiny, his children were two little fireplugs with red hair. The girl had the thickest hair I had ever seen on a child that age, she had a braid down her back that was as thick as my wrist.
The adults spoke French with the children, which I thought was a bit over the top. *rolls eyes*
After that day I did not see him much, as we had other couples we hung out with on a regular basis. People not as hippy-ish as the Towns were.
The next time Wheelie popped up in my life was when we all went down to Santa Cruz where we were invited to a record store opening. There was this fellow, a tug boat captain no less, who wanted to start a chain of record stores, and since he lived in Santa Cruz, that's where the first store was.
I remember it was a hot day. Old Blue barely made it over the pass in the Santa Cruz mountains, and I kept myself cool by holding my skirt over the AC vent in the car. :>)
Much to our surprise, Wheelie showed up with one of the ladies that also worked at their company. A very tall MUCH younger woman (younger than ME even!), with a very assertive attitude and suicide shoes.
(Those wooden platform sandals that were so popular in those says)
I will call her Tall Chick just for this blog. I hope she will forgive me for that, as we became and still are, good friends.:>)
It turned out that Tall Chick and Wheelie were having an affair. hmmmm....we didn't think they were suited for each other and we were all very surprised.
But hey, this was the 60s...
In the years that followed, Puri and Wheelie became close friends and we all spent time together, the boys usually listening to music, playing 'drop the needle' and such.
They introduced new and exciting (to them) composers, like Sibelius, Arnold Schoenberg, Bartok, John Cage, Charles Ives.....
Puri was pretty much just into Opera at the time, but Wheelie got him to listen to other stuff as well.
When my son was two, I left Puri and went back to Holland for 3 years.
While I lived in Holland, Wheelie went to work for the tug boat captain, and managed his store in San Francisco. It was a record store which only sold classical records. He loved that job, he ran the store with an iron fist. He organized "in store" visits with very famous artists, like Placido Domingo, Jose Carreras, Beverly Sills, famous pianists, conductors....
In 1976 the tug boat captain took all his store managers and his buyers on a tour of Europe. Minnesota guy just HAPPENED to be one of his buyers. I met the gang in Amsterdam where we spent the day. We stayed at the Marriott that night, and thinking back this was one of those situations in life where you later think: WOW...how on earth?
Here I was, in my very fancy room, in the room next to me was Wheelie, in the room on the other side was Minnesota guy...Never in a million years did I think then that I would fall in love with both these guys....makes you wonder....
When I came back from Holland, hoping to try and salvage my marriage, Puri didn't have a job, nor did he have a place to live.
So we camped out at Wheelie's house for the time being.
When we finally found jobs and an apartment, my stuff from Holland arrived. Since Puri was not very gifted in the way of manual labor, we hooked up with Wheelie, who rented a panel truck, and drove us to the San Francisco docks. We got the customs stuff taken care of and were told we had to move everything out of the crate, disassemble the crate and not leave a speck of dust behind or we would be charged a hefty fine.
No problem!!!
Wheelie single handed and in no time emptied the crate, which had our beds and dining room set (IKEA) and our other stuff. He then proceeded to take apart the crate, put the Styrofoam pellets in large garbage bags, and low and behold, left the dock spic and span!
At the apartment he proceeded to put together the furniture, and hang the lamps. Something Puri wasn't able to do.
I marveled at Wheelies ability to just roll up his sleeves and get stuff done. He moved up a few notches on my admiration stick.
The reunion/marriage did not last long though. We were eventually evicted from our apartment. You see, our darling little son who was five at the time, managed to tick off our apartment manager, who overheard him say something gross to his daughter. The man was a born again Christian and extremely prude. He kicked us out. No if, ands or butts.
Puri and I moved to another apartment, but it was around that time I met up with Minnesota Guy. Well, you've read that story.
We finally got a divorce, and went our separate ways.
After my son and I moved back to California from Minnesota, and after a few months of trying to get back on track as a single parent, I got a letter from Wheelie telling me he was coming to town.
He was living in New York, working for Polygram at that time.
Before that he and his family were in Chicago, where Tall Chick decided to leave him for a younger fella, and the kids graduated from high school and went back to live with their mom in California.
I hope this isn't too confusing. Yep, we all moved a lot!
So there we were, both of us licking our wounds, being extremely vulnerable and needing a friend.
I welcomed the idea of hanging out with him for a few days. My son and I were living in a flat, the top level of a very nice house, in Oakland.
Wheelie and I had a great time, and little sparks were starting to fly.
One evening we talked until two in the morning. We ended up doing, of all things, a crossword puzzle, neither one of us wanting to make the first move.
But we were sitting on the couch, our knees eventually touched and VIOLA!
*LOL*
I won't divulge what happened then, but you can probably guess.
He left the next day to visit his kids up north, his mom in Oregon, and then he was going to a job interview in Seattle with a small record company. After that he went back to New York.
I missed him immediately, we started corresponding. We wrote each other every day, and called each other every night. (Yes, I still have ALL those letters!!!)
He started to WOOooo me...(I had never been wooo-ed before!!!) had a dozen long stemmed roses delivered to me at work, small gifts came frequently, and the LUV bloomed.
Who would have thought!
He visited me in late July. In September I received a letter where he proposed to me...(I had never been proposed to before!!!)
Of course I said yes, and so it began....
He took the job in Seattle.
He put his stuff on a moving truck and came to California, where after a mad rush to get our marriage license, our blood tests done, on October 24th, 1981, at seven o'clock in the morning, we were married in a Redwood grove. The lady who married us was a justice of the peace. She was a friend of mine from the Ashram. She was supposed to run an intensive that day and seven o'clock was the only time she could get away.
It was an interesting little ceremony. Very sweet. Very quiet. It was still dark. The energy in the Redwood Grove was magical. We said our vows with only our children present. A very casual affair, but at the same time, very special.
Afterwards we went home and got ready for a little reception for our friends. We picked up a few huge cheese cakes and a crate of champagne and enjoyed a fabulous time with our family and friends.
Wheelie and I went to Seattle on our honeymoon, and to look for a place to live.
We found a wonderful home on Bainbridge Island. Life was looking up. Everything was just perfect!
A week later we loaded up a truck with my belongings. I am still puzzled how Wheelie got my 10 foot couch down those stairs by himself, but he did.
We drove up north to say goodbye to the kids and pick up the dogs. Wheelie had two Basenjis, who had been living with the kids.
The three of us drove to Washington. The first day was tough, the dogs were freaked out, but settled down the second day and pretty much slept on the floor of the cab for the rest of the way.
So there you have it.
And so our married life started. Wheelie had the killer job, vice president of production of a small record company. I stayed home with my son, befriended a wonderful neighbor with her kids, and life was perfect.....
I think I'll leave it at that for now...
If you're still reading this....thanks...it has been very nice to pull up all the old memories....
SGMKJ!
1 comment:
mmmmmm...definitely kept up and synchronicity nearly screams out loud!.
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