Today would have been my parent's 53rd wedding anniversary. With our son's wedding just a bit over a week ago, the taking of vows has been on my mind a lot. So today's memior assignment is to write about your wedding day...or go ask your parents or grandparents about their day.
Actually, it was a few pages in a journal I found after my mother's death which inspired Memoir Monday. Three handwritten pages she had penned about her wedding day. The fun they'd had getting married in my dad's parent's house, the flowers, the cake, the people who made the small wedding a pleasure. There was a page and a half about how my parents glossed through their three day honeymoon to come back to their rental house early. Unfortunately they didn't have a key, but my enterprising dad managed to 'break' in so they could settle in. I could feel her happiness and delight come through those pages. Have I mentioned that my mom was a sweet sixteen bride and my dad a mature twenty year old? (I know, I know!)
When I found that journal and read the story, I wept. I cried, in part, because my grief was still fresh, but I wept because there was no more. Only those few pages. The rest of the journal was blank. How I wanted more! My mother probably wrote those lines after she was sick. Probably after she realized she wasn't getting out of breast cancer alive. I imagine she wanted to fill that book up with the story of her life...but she didn't have the strength emotionally to go back into it all...or perhaps it was a simple matter of little physical strength. I'll never know. All I know is this daughter was greedy for more.
That's what Memoir Mondays are for...in bits and pieces you can capture the stories of your life. Every year you can print them out, bind them into a book or notebook, and shelve them. Your children, grandchildren, and great-grands will love having an eye witness account of your life and times. Include photos when ever you can.
Now--go write.
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Mike and I got married in the Broadway Chapel in Lubbock 33 years ago (our anniversary was the 20th - just a week-and-a-half ago). I was 19 and Mike had just turned 21 a couple of weeks before. He had his senior year at Tech ahead of him and had worked for Amoco all summer in Houston - the longest summer of my life (no emailing yet, long distance calls prohibitively expensive, etc.). We were married young by the day's standards and some folks thought perhaps we "had" to get married (in that case, Jennifer was a 18 month gestation...). I almost missed my own wedding because Mom thought my sister was bringing me to the building and Kati thought Mom was coming back to get me. Wouldn't cell phones have been handy then??
We'd been planning the wedding for 10 months and were so ready to be married that neither one of us was nervous at all. One of my bridesmaids was so nervous and emotional (Jan Bates) she couldn't understand why I wasn't nervous! I told her "we just knew and it was time". Turns out we were right!
I learned a lot from that day on how to plan for my own daughter's wedding as Mom tried to do too much herself to the point that she was hemming her dress on the way to the chapel! I decided that, as mother of the bride, I was going to ENJOY that day and remember how wonderful it was rather than running myself to a frazzle and worrying about things. Mom did the best she could and I'm not meaning to criticize her in any way. I just know after our wedding, SHE said she wished she'd done some things differently to have made the day more fun and relaxing for her and Dad rather than the "work yourself to the bone" day it was.
I still enjoy weddings and love looking at photos of them. I don't like the weddings where the focus is on "look at me, I'm the Bride and everything is going MY way today or else" but rather the ones where the couple are so wrapped up in each other they don't even seem to notice everyone else. I went to one wedding where there was a table, as you lined up for the reception, full of no less than 13 photos of the bride in her dress! I worry about that couple.
I loved seeing the photos of your son's wedding - it was a private, intimate affair that was so sweet and tender. Thanks for sharing about your parent's wedding too. Now you need to have a bit about y'alls wedding! :)
Oh, Deb, what a treasure you have in those few photographs and handwritten pages of your parents' wedding and early days together!
Those drapes in the LR, the punch bowl, small details just tell the story so well.
I enjoy Memoir Monday so much.
Thanks for sharing your parents' wedding story! I had tears in my eyes after reading it. Truly, "precious memories..."
well written and poignant. Nice pics - so young!! Neat to have the pics, a journal entry, and memories of your folks to share with your kids and beyond. Joanne
Beautiful Deb. Hugs
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