Of a not so normal weekend.
Now lest anyone think that I am going soft in my old age-I still remain down on the institution of marriage as a whole. I think it is a useless institution that were it not for no better way to raise children, would have been banished from our lexicon a long time ago. Or as Nick Faldo pointed out: “We were happily married for eight months. Unfortunately, we were married for four and a half years.”
However, at a wedding, such thoughts are always banished and you want to always believe the best:
Imagine my shock when I found out it was not the Bible he was holding-but the Book of Mormon!
True story. The person conducting the service was an old friend of the grooms family and Mormon by trade, but that is not their professed religious faith. He’s empowered to perform marriage. However, my daughter is, as I long suspected, even more suspicious of organized religion than I am.
Nonetheless-they made a very good image of a happy couple:
I’m too young for this to be happening!
The “people” dynamics of this particular wedding were indeed challenging. I had this dark twisted thought of someone trying to make a dark sitcom out of it:
Bride’s parents? Divorced and not speaking to each other.
Groom’s parents? Divorced and not speaking to each other.
Both sides bringing new significant others to be present at their side at the wedding. ( Except for my ex!-damn the luck-she’s the one who needs to get married off!).
Lots of family present-all with grudges of their own.
Mix, heat, and serve. Hilarity is sure to ensue!
Fortunately, no TV talent agents were present and everyone remembered cardinal rule number 1 of a wedding-the day is all about the bride and the groom. And under no circumstances will anyone else do anything to ruin their happiness on that day. The rule was never published-but it was clear it was well understood by all present.
Which, brought us to the highlight of the evening for me-when my daughter asked my father to dance with her:
Too many flash bulbs going off!
But it was a great moment and -truth be told-seeing that meant more than my dance with her. And my dance with her-which was the second dance of the night, after the traditional dance with her husband meant a lot to me. The walls are still not torn down-but for that evening at least-the smile on her face was genuine. And-if my ex is to be believed-it was her idea.
Speaking of the ex-I was civil and polite at all times. I even complimented her on her dress. I had resolved to do that no matter what transpired-but again, we all seemed to recognize and respect wedding rule number 1. My daughter talked to everyone-and I even talked to my former brother in laws. ( Who, I always liked by the way- I always thought they were pretty good guys. It was their oldest sister I had issues with only). My ex’s Mom was probably the closest to being uncivil and I fully expected that. It is what it is.
But nothing could ruin the evening that night!
A most different bridal cake!
For the S.O. it was a whirlwind-as she got meet a lot of my family, plus a whole lot of other people’s family. She looked beautiful at the wedding though:
Posing with my father!
And the S.O. got to meet my son for the first time and his girlfriend:
Don’t laugh-these may be the people showing up to give you CPR some day! They are both paramedics.
Sigh.
However, as the S.O. reminded me several times-it was just a moment in time. “Its just wedding”, she said, “tomorrow its all different.” Wise woman she is -and I knew deep down she was right.
But for that evening at least, I was happy for my little girl:
Whose not so little anymore. A grown up woman to be sure.
I tried to find a picture of her as a little girl to scan-but my scanner still does not work. Trust me, in the day, she was the cutest little girl I can ever remember.
But then again-she’s my daughter. And I’ll love her no matter what.
Enough with nostalgia. Today as Scarlett said-is yet another day.