The following was written by my late wife Elaine. She wrote a long book, a diary really, from which this is one passage:
Apartment in Arlington, Virginia
August 1957 was eventful. We found a one-bedroom apartment in Arlington close to Route 50; ten minutes from the patent office if there wasn’t any traffic, and 45 minutes during rush hour, for $81.50 a month.
Dave had attended work fairs, career fairs, etc., at Michigan State, and accepted a job as Patent Examiner at the US Patent Office, which was then in the main Department of Commerce Building At 14th St. and Constitution Avenue in Washington, DC. The National Aquarium was located in the same building, and we visited it several times. I believe our children thought, at first, that Dad worked in the aquarium. The Patent Office was moved later to new buildings at Crystal City, Virginia.
We moved all our belongings from Michigan with our Oldsmobile and a hauling trailer, and had to buy furniture since we had none of our own; the first purchase was the bedroom set from nearby Kann’s, in Arlington.
The mattress was delivered first, on a sort of emergency plan, and we slept on that until the rest of the set, which we still use, arrived. I’ve noticed recently, 2002, that the bed’s headboard is beginning to creak, when I “crawl back up to the pillow” after sliding down while sleeping. Gravity makes me slide because the head of the bed is raised 8 inches higher than the foot to help me with reflux problems. Thanks, Dave, for putting up with all my idiosyncrasies and doing all you can to improve ’em.
Dave and I are starting to creak, too!
To be continued…
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About the Author: RD Blakeslee is a nonagenarian in West Virginia who built his net worth by only investing in that which can be enjoyed during acquisition and throughout life, as opposed to papers in a drawer, like stocks and bonds. You can read more about him here.
Photos: Courtesy of the Blakeslee Family
In those days there were no credit bureaus to keep track of one’s integrity (or lack thereof) regarding financial obligations. We needed furniture but didn’t have any income to pay for it yet.
Years before this episode, Grandfather-to-be had purchaser an engagement ring for Elaine, from Kay Jewelers in Alexandria, Virginia, when he was stationed at Fort Belvoir while in the army.
Kann’s credit officer checked with Kay and found G-to-B’s record: Every coupon from Kay’s little credit book had been received with payment due from the Philippine Islands, where G-to-B was stationed for the rest of his military service, so we didn’t have to sleep on the floor. The credit officer let us have the furniture on credit.
“What goes around, comes around”.
The headboard creaks?
Oh Daddy-O!
Old bedsprings can make quite a racket.
lol Thanks you for that Mr. Dave.
My grandma had the old open type bed springs. They make for a good trampoline for little kids. Good bouncing action. 😉
Our bed is set up the same way for my hubby, who sleeps with a bi-pap machine. I wondered why I kept sliding so my feet were hanging off the bottom!
Gee, I’m a member of your club. We propped up the head of our bed toward the end of Elaine’s life to counteract her GERD. I was overweight at the same time and using a CPAP machine to squelch COPD.
It might have helped if our bed had had a footboard (absent in most contemporary beds) to brace feet against sliding off the end of the bed,
Woops! sleep apnea, not COPD.
The Apnea disappeared when I “lost” 86 pounds, down from 286 to 200.
I smile at our use of the word “loss” in this context. I didn’t “lose” it – I always knew where it was and just got rid of it.