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June 1st, 1985.
David and I had bought a beautiful, run down, in desperate need of TLC Queen Anne Victorian house two months before our wedding. The only thing that had not been re-muddled in this house was its staircase. The natural wood was so beautiful that David and I decided to use it as the backdrop for our pre-wedding photos.
The morning of the wedding our house was abuzz with all things wedding. All the groomsmen were on the third floor getting ready; all the bridesmaids were on the second floor getting ready. I was in our master bedroom getting ready—but where in the world were David and Matthew? David had decided since Matthew was going to be his littlest groomsman that he would be in charge of getting him ready for the wedding.
Ten minutes before the photographer was supposed to be at the house to start taking pictures I still had not seen David or Matthew in the “getting ready” areas of the house. Finally, getting nervous about whether they would be ready on time I slipped out of our room, down the first few stairs of the staircase and peeked over the railing. Low and behold, what do I see? Yes, sir, right there in the middle of the living room floor, minutes before the photographer is set to come through the front door, I see my future husband and my child sitting less than two feet in front of the TV in their underwear watching the pet parade!
For those of you not aware, once a year the people that live in the LaGrange area of Illinois pick up their pets, put them in costumes, buggies, baskets, strollers, floats, and other various ensembles and parade them down the main drag. It is such a popular event that it is actually televised on WGN. So there sat David and Matthew, fully enthralled by the various animals and their glitzy costumes completely unfazed by the fact that a wedding was attempting to happen all around them.
At the last second, David scooped Matthew up and ran up the stairs yelling “Don’t wait for us!” It was like a miracle. When the photographer rang the bell, Matthew was all decked out in his little tiny tuxedo. David was showered, shaved and dressed in his wedding tux. I would never have thought it possible.
The pictures went off without a hitch. The wedding was perfect. The reception was lovely. The honeymoon was glorious.
And so it seems this is the base scenario that has run through my life the last 29 year. Me pacing around as the clock on whatever event ticks closer to lift off with David running out of the room at the last minute yelling behind him, “Don’t wait for me!” only to have everything turn out to be wonderful after all. Crazy or not, I would not trade a single day of the last 29 years. I am looking forward to bouncing through the rest of my life holding hands with the most amazing (and sometimes exasperating) man I’ve ever met.
