Weddings and tornadoes a lot alike (5/27/03)

It was a long, harrowing, two-day drive to Houston. We drove through the edges of every thunderstorm and tornado that raged all the way from home until we were well into Mississippi. The decorative orange and white barrels marching down all the highways didn’t help matters.

We were in town for our daughter’s wedding. We made it in time to rest up a bit before the rehearsal. I had borrowed shoes from her because I didn’t have any that went with the dress I was wearing. I usually wear sneakers and didn’t think they were appropriate with a long dress.

My husband and I were to enter after the groom’s parents. We were to light one of the candles that was to be used by the bridal couple to light the unity candle. I kept walking out of the borrowed shoes and had visions of going through the entire wedding barefoot. If the dress had been a little longer I might have gotten away with it. Little did I know but the imaginary lighter used for the candles would prove to be more of a challenge than the shoes.

We couldn’t figure out how to light it during the actual wedding. About the time I was ready to panic and use the other candle to light ours, my husband figured out how to work the contraption.

At the rehearsal the bride and her father made their way down the aisle, laughing and goose-stepping all the way. The rest of us hoped they wouldn’t do this on the day of the wedding. Then the wedding planner made us do it all over again. This time the bride and her father danced down the aisle.

My daughter fretted that her sister still hadn’t arrived from Fort Worth. We offered to go get her and her baby but were told that arrangements had already been made for transportation.

At the rehearsal dinner we sat across from my ex-husband and his wife and next to her son. For some odd reason we got along really well. The son told me that he had joined the Marines but didn’t have to report until this fall. He had already started a modified sort of training. His mother had fixed him a big dinner before the first “meeting” he attended. Little did either of them know but the “meetings” include physical training. Imagine going for a run after a big meal! In spite of being miserable that first night, he is still excited about the career path he has chosen.

The next day the transportation plans for my daughter’s sister, Chrisie, fell through. We repeated our offer and with time running out she accepted. We were to meet Chrisie and her family halfway in a little town called Hearne. We found the place easily enough. It took a little less than two hours to get there. We started to get worried after about 15 or 20 minutes. Were we in the wrong McDonald’s? Were we in the wrong town? Did Chrisie change her mind? They finally appeared. I was surprised that the baby let me take her to the playlot to stretch her legs.

After a two-hour drive back to Houston, we dropped Chrisie off at her father’s house and two days later the wedding went off beautifully. At least most of the confusion and stress was before the ceremony and not during. My daughter, the bride, looked like a fairy tale princess and Chrisie was a beautiful bridesmaid. The baby didn’t even cry during the ceremony but she did get lipstick on her dress from everybody kissing her, and nobody goose-stepped down the aisle.[[In-content Ad]]