Friday, April 18, 2008
“My life began at 6:30 a.m. on my 24th birthday.” My dad used to love saying that. People would nod, then frown, then ask what he meant. He loved answering. The subject of my biography can trace its conception to that same moment, and died about 5 years ago . . . mostly.
I chose for my subject not a person but rather a marriage—my parents’ marriage. Personification of a marriage seems especially apt in their (and my) religious subculture; one of our leaders said “A marriage, like a human life, is a precious, living thing” (Oaks 71).
I consulted several primary sources, including my dad’s detailed journal, medical records, family letters and scrapbooks, and a remarkable set of handwritten notes (whose provenance I prefer not to identify) from the confidential church meeting that is recounted here in detail. Supplementing these sources are interviews with many of the people described (see bibliography). The key scenes are documented in surprising detail in these sources. Nevertheless, I have taken substantial liberties with the record for the sake of ease of reading.