REFLECTIONS ~ tHE wEDDING dAY hAS aRRIVED!

~ The Beginning of a New Journey

December 20, 1975!  The day was finally here!! Our Wedding Day!!!

The morning was filled with eating breakfast though I couldn’t tell you what I had, joking around with my mom and sister, watching it rain and hoping that the rain would stop before the ceremony and waiting impatiently for my stepdad to get home with the food for the reception.  He was the Sous Chef at a restaurant in Las Vegas so he made all the food.  I don’t remember what we had to eat but I know there was lots of food to go around. 

The PLAN was that E would be home by noon so he could shower and get ready for the wedding.   The wedding was due to begin at 1:00p. My mom, Joanie and I got dressed and then waited, and waited some more.  I kept going to the door to see if he was walking up the walkway.  We waited some more and then at 12:30p he arrived home with lots of dishes for the reception and our wedding cake.  I wanted to see the cake so bad as my mom had designed it.  It was a rectangle cake with a little chapel at the top left corner and from the chapel to the bottom right corner was a path ending in a little toy red truck.  BUT alas, I didn’t really check it out as I was yelling at E to hurry and get dressed we were going to be late!!  He kept apologizing and I just kept saying hurry, hurry, hurry.

Finally he came out of the bedroom looking very sharp in his tuxedo.  We took a few pictures and I remember the last picture before we left for the church was of me with my mom on one side and E on the other each kissing me on the cheek with me bawling my eyes out.  Joanie kept saying “you don’t have to get married if you don’t want to” and I kept saying I was getting married!!  I was getting married!!!!

We left for the church, one of mom’s friends, Papa George, had a really nice car and he chauferred us to the wedding.  I felt like a real princess.  As we pulled into the church parking lot, Ron’s mom was pacing on the front landing.  I was told later that she had been mumbling “I knew she wouldn’t show up.”  But I was there, a little late but the wedding was going to happen.

Our wedding was one that left us with lots of memories, some were funny and some a bit perplexing ~ like Adrian our ring bearer, 5 years old, the son of Daniel & Ruth D., my French teacher.  Part way through the ceremony Adrian whispered to John (Ron’s bestman & brother) his shoes were hurting his feet.  John then turned to Ron and whispered what he had said.  Ron then turned to me and repeated it.  I remember leaning forward and looking at Adrian and saying to Ron “tell him to take them off” which Ron in turn turned and whispered to John who leaned down and told Adrian to take them off and then we saw these two little black shoes go flying behind the pastor.

During the service we had some special music.  We had heard the song “I Promise You” by Johnny Cash, in fact had it on an 8-track tape and a cassette.  Friday at our rehearsal we had set the cassette up to play “I Promise You” but when it started playing another song started playing instead.  I can’t remember who went and stopped the song and got it to the correct one to play but we were able to say Johnny Cash sang at our wedding.

Once the I do’s were said we walked out the door of the church and down the stairs with a bright rainbow shining overhead.  Some people told us that was a special blessing just for us for our wedding.  I smile each time I see a rainbow now and think back to the day we started our journey together. And 50 years later we often say ‘we are blessed beyond measure.”

Our reception was held at my mom and stepdad’s duplex.  We had 42 people in attendance.  Our reception was small but enjoyable and the food was delicious!  Not only had Ron’s parents, brother and sister come into town for the wedding but my Aunt Joan rode the bus from Napa, CA to be there!  I felt so honored.  One person who wanted to be there but was not able to make it due to fog from Seattle to Vancouver, BC – was Ron’s oldest sister, Judy.  Before the wedding Ron had told my mom “under no circumstances are you to give John the keys to our truck.”  She said OK.  When we got ready to leave the reception we both got into our little red truck and Ron started it.  We didn’t go anywhere ~ my mom, had in fact given John the keys because he told her a story, but we did go 90 miles per hour!!!  At the beginning it was frustrating but then we saw the humor in it…our ushers (two airmen friends) helped to get it down off the blocks and then we were able to drive off. 

Because we knew we probably wouldn’t eat much at our reception we had made dinner reservations at a little German restaurant known for its “itty bitty baked potatoes.”  We had a nice dinner and found out the next day that about 15 minutes after we left a bomb had gone off in the kitchen courtesy of the mob.  We often say our marriage started off with a big bang!!!

Once we were back to our motel room, I called my mom to ask if I could spend the night?  She didn’t answer, I was bummed because I thought it was funny.  We found out the next day that she and Aunt Joan had gone to the casino to gamble for a bit. But it didn’t really matter, Ron and I were married and that’s what was important! 

We had no idea what the future would hold for us.  We just knew we were starting a new adventure and we were in it for the long haul!