Things I learned while re-doing my floor

1) My Dad worked in the ketchup factory as a senior in high school and after he quit IU but before he went into the Army.

2) He wanted to be a chemistry teacher originally.

3) He quit going to IU because he didn't have the money to continue. This versus the story I was originally told; that college wasn't his "thing."

4) He joined the Army on Valentine's Day 1961.

5) While he had known of my mother since he was 12 (or so) he didn't ask her out until two weeks before he joined the Army. (Nothing like waiting until the last minute Dad.)

6) He never actually proposed to my mom, they just talked about getting married and, while he was home on break, he gave her an engagement ring in December of 1963. And by talk I mean "wrote about it in letters." Because a) my mom doesn't like the phone (that's where I get it from), b) no internet, c) after basic training and then more training in MA he was stationed in Shemya, AK for a year d) even though you get 30 days of leave per year in the Army, before his third and final year my dad had only taken 15 days. Now you may think that means there are stacks of love letters or some such somewhere, but no. While my Dad is a packrat, my Mom is not (that is unless they are hidden somewhere, but I am pretty sure they are not, I probably would have found them looking for Christmas presents.

7) He got out of the army on February 13, 1964 and my parents were married June 20, 1964.

8) At the time my dad left the Army the GI Bill didn't vcover his tuition since he hadn't seen any "action." He was more involved in the Cold War and got out the year before we entered Vietnam. Later it would be amended to cover those who were in the service during the Cold War.

9) After getting back he rented the apartment that my parents would live in for the first few years of their marriage, and when my Mom showed the place to her Mom, my Dad caught Grandma testing for dust.

10) My dad worked in a glass factory for one day before he was hired at P&G.