I was wearing new shoes. They were the wrong color. When we rented tuxes, we opted to not rent the shoes with them. (More later on that). A friend went with me to buy a new pair and for some reason I picked out a brown pair, rather than black. When I knelt before the congregation that day for the prayer led by the man who was becoming my Father-in-law, the bottoms of those new shoes caused me concern. I confess. My mind was my shoes, not my Pastor's prayer. Our church didn't have a kneeling bench, so Kathy's mom had made a substitute. It wasn't until my knees hit it 
that I realized it was hard lumber covered with the thin cloth that was the white aisle runner. Even then, I had bad knees, so as Kathy's dad's prayer went on, and, it seemed, on, my knee began to ache. I knew that when he said "Amen." I was supposed to stand and gracefully help my bride to her feet. Oh, the new shoes. The bottoms were still slick. I could see myself falling over in a gimpy-kneed, slipped-on-the-white-runner heap. Not the image we were after.
I often think of our wedding when I am involved in matrimonial events that cost more than we paid for our first several cars. Our wedding cost well less than $500, and that included the tux rentals and cost of the brides maid's dresses (Our friends were poor like us and we didn't want to ask them to bear the expense.) Kathy and her mom made her dress mostly from the abundant material that had come from a cast-off gown of a rather large bride. A friend of the family made the cake. (Part of which chocolate. One of only two "opinions that I had about the wedding. The other was that Kathy wear her hair long & down. I was abundantly right about both.) The best man and I nearly moved it from the back of Kathy's family's station wagon to the front seat when we were bringing it to the church. My childhood and teen friend, now a professional photographer, took our pictures and only billed us the costs for developing and printing the pictures. Kathy, as she has, now, for four decades, cut my hair. (The cuts my dad gave me, were too near the military style.)
It just might be that those shoes that worried me on that very hot August afternoon were the most expensive single purchase made for this wedding.
Day after tomorrow, in the early afternoon, I will have been in those shoes for four decades. I don't regret it a bit.
As Sundays generally are in my family, August 12 will be a busy day. We'll celebrate a couple of days later, but for now . . .
To my lovely bride. Happy Anniversary.
And, hopefully to the rest of you . . .
It's STTA.
that I realized it was hard lumber covered with the thin cloth that was the white aisle runner. Even then, I had bad knees, so as Kathy's dad's prayer went on, and, it seemed, on, my knee began to ache. I knew that when he said "Amen." I was supposed to stand and gracefully help my bride to her feet. Oh, the new shoes. The bottoms were still slick. I could see myself falling over in a gimpy-kneed, slipped-on-the-white-runner heap. Not the image we were after.I often think of our wedding when I am involved in matrimonial events that cost more than we paid for our first several cars. Our wedding cost well less than $500, and that included the tux rentals and cost of the brides maid's dresses (Our friends were poor like us and we didn't want to ask them to bear the expense.) Kathy and her mom made her dress mostly from the abundant material that had come from a cast-off gown of a rather large bride. A friend of the family made the cake. (Part of which chocolate. One of only two "opinions that I had about the wedding. The other was that Kathy wear her hair long & down. I was abundantly right about both.) The best man and I nearly moved it from the back of Kathy's family's station wagon to the front seat when we were bringing it to the church. My childhood and teen friend, now a professional photographer, took our pictures and only billed us the costs for developing and printing the pictures. Kathy, as she has, now, for four decades, cut my hair. (The cuts my dad gave me, were too near the military style.)It just might be that those shoes that worried me on that very hot August afternoon were the most expensive single purchase made for this wedding.
Day after tomorrow, in the early afternoon, I will have been in those shoes for four decades. I don't regret it a bit.
As Sundays generally are in my family, August 12 will be a busy day. We'll celebrate a couple of days later, but for now . . .
To my lovely bride. Happy Anniversary.
And, hopefully to the rest of you . . .
It's STTA.
Happy anniversary to you both!! I enjoyed seeing the pictures. :)
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