Our New Life Together
The night we returned from the cruise, John carried me over the threshold of Apartment G-10, Fresh Ponds Village.
We went through our wedding gifts and soaked up the reality that we were finally living in our own little place. The spacious, modern apartment was quiet and held a peacefulness that seemed to say “Welcome home.”
Later the following week, I returned to work and my coworkers immediately surrounded me with questions and looking for pictures and souvenirs. I was delighted to tell them all about the wedding and honeymoon.
I began the process of changing my name and address on all necessary documentation, and started writing out the Thank You cards right away.
“Can’t Stop” One World Remix by After 7
After 7 – Can’t Stop (One World Remix)
I named this chapter “First Year … No Sweat” because I’ve heard countless declarations that the first year of marriage is such a difficult and emotionally chaotic time for newlyweds. This was not so for us.
We’d been looking forward to having a place to ourselves for so long that we were simply ecstatic that it had finally come true. Living together in our apartment was pleasant and idyllic. With tennis courts, a swimming pool, woodsy surroundings and quiet setting, life there resembled a perpetual vacation in its serenity.
We settled into a nice routine of work, friends, family and activities. We eagerly anticipated the holidays, the first spent in our own place and as husband and wife.
Music from this happy time in my life includes Can’t Stop (One World 12″ Mix) by After 7, Take Your Time by Mantronix, and Vogue by Madonna.
Mega machine
John and I got our first computer, a “loaded” secondhand IBM-compatible 286 with 40 MB of RAM and a 15” “super VGA” monitor. We thought it was the coolest thing since Pac-Man.
Included were WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 that resembled DOS in appearance and the graphics and sound capabilities were rather crude by today’s standards. We set up shop in our spare bed/TV room with a computer desk and our “new” machine, and explored its features. John developed a real knack for personal computing, and it’s no surprise his career eventually leaned that way.
The World Wide Web was barely known; there was no high-speed cable modem or DSL or CD-ROM … just two floppy drives. We wouldn’t dial up to America Online for a couple more years.
We soon received our wedding pictures and VHS video and made choices for the photo albums. We got a kick out of viewing the professionally done video, reliving that wonderful day. I would eventually have the wedding and honeymoon VHS tapes converted to DVD when the technology became available.
Anne, Doug, and Rosie
This is a recording of Rosie singing “The First Noel.”
“The First Noel” by Rosie
In October, my friend Anne married her college soul mate, Doug. I was in the bridal party, and we wore long, iridescent plum gowns. As she had stood up for me, I was only too happy to do the same.
Her parade of wedding-related activities reminded me of my own, just months before. For the first time, I wasn’t in the bouquet toss lineup, and John couldn’t go for the garter either.
“Respect” by Adeva
Unfortunately, later in the fall Dad’s first cousin Jimmy ended his life upstairs in the family home on Grafton Avenue in Newark. This sent a shockwave through the family, devastating his siblings and parents, Aunt Gerri and Uncle Edmund. We had visited him, on life support, but couldn’t deny the inevitable.
As members of the Adult Choir, we hosted the annual Christmas party at our apartment.
Since Dad hadn’t been using the artificial tree and decorations in the four years following Mom’s passing away, we asked if we could borrow it. So, it ended up in our new living room, by the sliding glass doors to the balcony, decked out once more for another Christmas season.
The holidays for the first time as a married couple were fun. We hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner at the apartment, inviting Dad and Steve, and this would continue for may years. We shopped for presents for each other, and were part of the Christmas Eve music program at church.
Before bed that night, we lit a candle and read from the Book of Luke while sipping eggnog. The 1990 holidays began cherished traditions that would evolve for years following.
Discord in the Middle East
January 1991 brought the Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm). The United States deployed personnel to the Middle East in response to Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces’ invasion of Kuwait.
The war did not last very long, but for the first time I observed real-time war footage on TV. It boggled my mind to witness this, and felt sorrow for the innocent civilians caught in the shuffle.
Though successful in our venture, the U.S. would later be widely criticized for its political motives in the “defense of Kuwait”.
It was a time when Saddam Hussein’s regime was emerging as a global threat, in its ruthless support of ethnic killings and destruction. (He would be captured, tried and hanged in 2003 under Operation Red Dawn.)
