December 20, 1957

Today's the 57th anniversary of Theodore's and my wedding marriage.

We'd been living in Berkeley, and we drive over to Reno for the occasion. Theo chose Reno...so thither we went in his '52 Chevy.  We left on the Saturday in cold, bright weather, and returned the next day in a snowstorm, over Donner Pass.

I'd bought a pretty ivory faille suit with rabbit fur collar of the same color. And I'd had my hair cut and curled...We got a wedding picture made in Reno, so there I am looking very unfamiliar, with curly short hair around my face. And Theodore looked handsome in a dark blue suit and tie.

We were married by the famous Judge Beemer, of Reno,in the courthouse, at about four p.m.  Judge Beemer was a large handsome man with a shock of gray hair, who I later learned was famous for marrying so many eloping movie stars.  We went out to get our photograph taken afterward, and then went to dinner.

The next morning we arose and departed for Berkeley, amidst dire warnings about the weather on the Pass.  But we plunged on, as usual, and as usual, Theodore never let me down.  At one point we were being followed by several cars as we drove through blinding snow, and as we charged onward, later I saw five cars in a meadow off the road, where the lead driver had missed staying on the road and driven off into nowhere followed by his faithful sheep.

There's a place on that road where you are in the mountains and then go up over a rise and below you is the East Bay, and Berkeley. It was all woods in those days, and little villages, and little winding roads. In the summer you'd come out of intense heat and drop thankfully into the blissful cool below.  On that winter day, we came out of the snow into the gray, rainwashed familiarity of the Berkeley Hills, and down into the lower depths where we lived. It was such a blessing.

Our whole marriage was not that tranquil. Wish I could say that it was!!  But at the last of our lives together, we did come up over a steep and terrible rise, and descend together into a place of tranquility and peace.  Might everyone's Christmas and New Year's wish contain that hope! YAZZYBEL