July 22, 1975 was a gorgeous day in Las Vegas, NV. Ron worked the night shift and slept in the mornings and usually took a nap late in the evening before going to work. We went on a picnic that afternoon. Ron was laying on the blanket with his head in my lap. I loved stroking his hair (and still do even though he doesn’t have much left to stroke) and Ron was talking about a trip he was planning to do in April 1976. He was going to Washington State to see friends and family. He asked if I wanted to go along. “Of course” I replied, “except we will have to be married by then because I know for sure my mom will say there is no way she was letting me go with him on a trip for more than one day.”
After a few minutes, Ron sat up and said “well then, do you want to get married?” YES! a thousand times YES!!! Then I quickly added, “we can’t tell my mom. She will be pissed and say no.!” I explained how Kathy had gotten pregnant without being married and how angry my mom got. By then I was working at Lerner’s Dress Shop at the mall and Ron had a second job at SEES candies.
At SEES candies you can’t sell damaged boxes of chocolates. I’m not saying Ron purposely dented boxes of Chocolate Bordeaux’s but every Tuesday and Thursday he would bring my mom a box of her favorite chocolates ~ Chocolate Bordeaux’s. We continued to grow our relationship, talking about getting married in April so I could go on his trip to Washington with him. Then we moved the day up to February 14th – lots of people get married on that day and yet we never said a word to my mom.
Just before Labor Day that year, Ron’s parents and his siblings planned a trip to Las Vegas. I was kind of nervous about meeting them. Ron had shared he had been raised Mennonite Brethren and all I could picture was an Amish family who stretched the rules – Ron was in the military and they don’t believe in bearing of arms. He shared his dad had come to the states via escaping out of Siberia/Russia through Harbin, China in 1928 and his dad said if we couldn’t defend the country that welcomed us, then we shouldn’t be living here. His dad was in the Army and fought in WWII. When Ron talks about his family serving in the military he likes to share that his Great Uncle Henry served in WWI with the Russian Army and WWII in the US Navy SeaBees. Ron continued that service by joining the US Air Force on August 10, 1974 and his first assigned base after bootcamp and school was at Nellis AFB.
Are you seeing how Poppa God was already setting things for us to meet ~ HE is So Good! Every day He is good!!!
September 1, 1975 began like most days. Ron probably getting ready to go to work at SEES candies ~ he was off from the military so was picking up some extra hours and I was busy getting ready to go to work. Mom was laying on the couch and was going to drive me to work (not sure why I didn’t take my own car). I was sitting in the chair putting on my socks and out of the blue Mom asked “Have you and Ron talked about getting married?” I’m sure I just about choked on my spit!!! Replying quite rapidly “NO!!! Mom we have not talked about getting married, heck I’ve never even told him I love you!” and then I finished getting ready for work without saying a word. I don’t think much was said on the way to work either. I just kept saying over and over in my head, I needed to talk to Ron ASAP! Mom dropped me off at the door of Lerner’s and I walked in and out the mall door and went straight to SEES candies. Ron was putting boxes of chocolates under the counter and I said as I continued to walk past the counter “We have to talk to my mom tonight. I lied to her this morning and I don’t lie.” Turned and walked back to Lerner’s to start my workday.
So I came up with a plan. I called my step-dad and asked him to tell Mom that she needed to come home right after work. He said okay. She got off at midnight. Ron and I waited for her to come home expecting her around 12:30a. We both fell asleep, me on the couch and Ron on the floor. We both sat up bolt right when Mom walked in the door at 2:30a. I told her we needed to talk to her and she needed to sit down on the couch. I moved to the floor and sat next to Ron.
I began by saying “mom I lied to you this morning. I’m sorry for lying but Ron and I have talked about getting married. We tell each other every day we love each other. And that we were getting married on December 20, 1975! Yes, six months after we met!!! My mom said OK, asked Ron if he was going to love me when I was old and gray. I laughed because I had started getting gray hair when I was 16 ~ thanks Dad. He said yes. She then asked me if I was going to love Ron when he was old and bald. I replied “of course.” Mom then said OK, got up off the couch and went to bed. Ron and I said a quick good-bye as I had to get up early and Ron needed to do his laundry before returning to work on Tuesday night.
Breathing a sigh of relief that Mom hadn’t yelled or gotten mad I heard “Margaret Alice Nelson get your butt in here now!!!” Uh oh, I was in trouble and didn’t have Ron there with me…what was I going to do?
I walked into her room and she immediately went into her tirade: I was too young, we didn’t know each other, I was too young, he was too young and there was no reason we had to rush to get married as I was only 17. I told her she got married when she was 17 and she said “yes, look where I am divorced and remarried.” I said “mom I’m not going to get a divorce, we have already talked and we are only getting married once.” She then added well, just remember you make your bed, you sleep in it and don’t think for one moment that when you and Ron have a big fight that you are coming back to live with me!!! “No problem” I yelled. “I won’t.”
The next time I was at Ron’s apartment I took his wall calendar down and did what every young girl does when a big event is going to happen. I started on Saturday, December 20 and wrote “Our Wedding Day!” and then counted back to September 2nd showing how many days till we were getting married. 110 Days!!!
Ali ~ Authentic & Ameliorating 
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