Wedding Blog

One of the greatest things in this world is love, right? This is why we love hearing stories about how couples met and why they “knew.” As a soon to be married, I want to know everything about our family history. I want to know more about the grandma who passed away before I could ask these questions that bubble up constantly.

Although raised as poor as can be, she managed to go to Idaho State and become valedictorian of her class during the Great Depression. When I asked my dad how she could afford to do that, he said she worked as the “help” in my grandpa’s family’s boarding house. This led to how she met Grandpa. I was overjoyed to learn this little tidbit of Grandma and Grandpa’s history, but it made me a little sad. I wish she was still around to answer these questions. When I was younger, she was just “Grandma - the one who buys us ding dongs and makes us play the piano.” I can’t help but feel that I am missing out.

Still, when I start feeling melancholy about what could have been, I pick up “Love Stories of World War II,” compiled by Larry King.

I can read this book over and over. There are pictures and letters and stories that make your heart swell. Sure, not all of the couples had happy endings, but all of them are fascinating. For instance, a couple drove all night to a bordering state to find someone to marry them quick, before he was deployed. And a fiance picked up yards of beautiful shimmery material to make his future wife’s gown while he was overseas.

The stories go on, about events leading to how they met, to intricate ways they were kept apart, but managed to stay together. I recommend this book to all who have a romantic side, or just want to hear some happy endings.