MY STORY - chapter 4

My Story - Chapter Four

After Christer and I were married in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, November of 1972, the top of our priority list was to get Christer graduated from the University of B.C. so we could get our life set up. But you know how it goes, the best laid plans and all. We got married at the end of the fall semester, right before final exams. (Probably not the wisest of timing choices. I don't think we thought about it to be honest).  Christer flunked 2 exams. Guess he had other things on his mind. LOL. He has always been a brilliant student and it was a real blow to his ego, but we survived and carried on. By the middle of spring semester, I discovered that I was pregnant!! WHAT !!!  That wasn't suppose to happen, not yet! Now what ?????  Life has a way of throwing you curve balls when you least need it. I guess that's what makes you strong.

Christer only had one more year to graduate with his Engineering degree. But we decided to delay that final year of schooling, for a year to have this baby and catch up on the finances.  That required a move to get a job, the first of many moves to come. Our daughter was born 3 days after our first anniversary. And with her came a host of new adventures and struggles. And new sewing projects !!!!

I had never sewn for a baby before and I got busy making little nightgowns and bibs and diapers. (this was 1973, only cloth diapers were available) I made receiving blankets and little wash clothes, cradle sheets and of course all my maternity clothes. We didn't know if we were having a girl or a boy, so everything had to be useable for both. (boring) But when she was born, I went crazy with the pink and frilly little girls clothes and accessories. I got very imaginative with making things to fill any need that arose. Baby seat covers, stroller covers and pads, shoulder burp cloths, etc. I loved it !! I have always loved making kids clothes, they are kind of like doll clothes, only just a little bigger :) And, I decided, a lot more fun !!

Well, that year off from school stretched into 2 years before we made it back to Vancouver to finish up Christer's degree.  But we made it. Along the way we found out that I was pregnant again !!!  Geeeezzzz !!  It seemed no birth control method was very effective for us. Our son was born 3 months before Christer graduated. As soon as his classes and exams were completed, we moved again to his first "career" job after graduation, and bought our first house.  Go big or go home, y’all !!

I was a stay home mom at this point, busy with 2 babies and sewing up a storm for our house, clothes for all of us, and even a suit or two for Christer to boot. Blankets and quilts were always on the "To Do" list to accommodate our growing needs. My sewing "space" was always humming with some project or other, (everywhere we lived I have carved myself out a sewing space).

Remember the sewing machine I took for repair when Christer and I first met? Well, I had been sewing on that used machine for years. I took it every where I went and sewed non-stop.  It had thousands of miles on it and still going strong (you just can’t kill those old Singers).  But I wanted a new machine, something “fancier”. I wanted to do embroidery and monogramming on my projects. But, we were up to our eyeballs in debt, from the costs of getting Christer’s degree, having two babies, moving 5 times and buying a house. Didn't know how, but I had to have a new machine. (doesn’t everybody???) Sewing has always been my therapy, without it I would go crazier than I already am. So we found a way and I got my very first new sewing machine !! It was a top of the line Kenmore in 1976. WOW !! It did everything.  It did monogramming, automatic button holes and a huge list of decorative stitches.   It had a free arm, the latest innovation in sewing machines.  It was a work horse, capable of sewing denim and leather.  I felt like I was a queen with that machine.  I could do anything !!!! And I did !