Love and Marriage

Yesterday, at five o'clock, I needed to drive my mother and her matron of honor down to the wedding hall so they could get dressed and prepared for the ceremony that was to be held at six. Carol, the matron of honor, lives across the street from us. I grew up with her son, and so she was like a second mother to me. I call her "Aunt" Carol, even though we're not related. We were talking as we waited in the car for my mother to come out of the house. Aunt Carol said, "I hope he's the right one for her. They sure seem happy together."

"Yeah, they do," I replied. But her statement shook me up a little bit. I started thinking, Is he the best man for my mother? What if he isn't? My mother got in the car holding her dress, and I, feeling a bit unsettled, drove them down to the restaurant.

By six o'clock all the guests were seated, waiting for the ceremony to begin. The groom was standing up front, patiently waiting as well. Soon the music started and we all turned to see Aunt Carol making her way down the aisle with an elegant bouquet of calla lilies. After she took her position up front, my mother started to walk down the aisle. When I saw her, a wave of emotion rose up in my chest, but I pushed it back down, as I did not want to cry. We all stood up as she walked by, and the ceremony was underway.

The Justice of the Peace spoke eloquently about the union of man and woman in marriage. At times I was lost in thought. Mom's getting married. How do I feel about this? What am I supposed to think? I felt slightly disconnected from what was enfolding in front of me.

After they exchanged vows, we all moved to where the tables and dance floor were set up, while they took pictures of the bride and groom. I was still experiencing feelings of ambivalence during the hors d'oeuvres and dinner. The appetizers were great, though: breaded and fried balls of cheese and broccoli, stuffed mushrooms, scallops rolled in bacon, and more. Dinner was excellent as well.

At one point I bumped into my Aunt Dianna, who is my father's sister. My mother invited my father's family to the wedding, because she still wants to remain close to them, even though she is getting remarried.

"Hi Michael," Aunt Dianna said, putting her arm on my back. "How you holding up?"

"Not bad. How are you?"

"All right. I miss your father, but I'm happy for your mother. She has to move on."

Another wave of emotion welled up inside me at the mention of my deceased father. I managed to say, "Yeah, they're happy together."

After dinner the DJ sat Roby in the middle of the dance floor, and my mother stood next to him with a microphone. She sang a beautiful song that she had written about spending the rest of her life with her best friend. As I listened to the loving words of the song, and saw them gazing into each other's eyes, my mixed feelings started to drop away, and my heart felt lighter.

Later, my mother's sister Debbie came and sat next to me. She said, "Hasn't this whole wedding been beautiful? Every day I thank God for bringing the two of them together. They are so good for each other. For them to find one another like that is amazing." She's right, I though to myself, it is great that they have each other.

The wedding wrapped up around eleven o'clock. My brothers, their girlfriends, and I all packed into the car and drove home. It was a good night of festivities that was much easier to handle than I had anticipated. I thought that I would have trouble socializing with so many people, but I stayed relatively calm.

Later that night, David looked outside and said, "It's snowing!" Sure enough, there was white fluffy snow falling from the sky. We all put our shoes on and went outside to enjoy a moment of early winter bliss and savor the last moments of the day.