Get On With It!

Monday night

I had discovered a tape recording of my parents' wedding ceremony, and was listening to it, and suddenly there they were, in their 30s again, getting married before me. In this case, the ceremony was taking place in front of the home they would buy the next year, 3374 N. Dinwiddie Street. Also, my mom wasn't wearing a long white wedding dress; she was wearing a nice dark skirt, matching jacket and a dark hat. Dad wore a light gray suit.

As the ceremony progressed, one of the guests who was seated on the lawn behind my parents started yelling and interrupting the proceedings. It was my aunt, Dad's sister. She was in a good mood, but she was trying to hurry everyone along. She called out, "Has he kissed her yet?! Kiss Her!" Mom and Dad were flustered and embarrassed, and finally decided to give in and kiss each other, thus ending the ceremony prematurely. They turned and walked down the sidewalk and I could see that my mom wasn't too happy about the interruption. They hadn't even gotten to their vows. I said to Mom, "He didn't even declare you man and wife!" Mom replied, "It was awful."

A few minutes later Mom had changed to her older self, as I last knew her, and she and I were walking along Dinwiddie Street, talking. The wedding guests had disappeared, but there were some neighbors around, doing their thing. Mom moved a little slower than I remembered, and her face had a little bit of a tan, but other than that, it was the same ol'Mom. I also knew that she was gone and that no one could see her but me, so the neighbors would think that I was crazy for talking to myself, but I didn't care. It sure seemed real to me. I said to Mom, "So, when I'm dead, can I hang out with you?" She thought a minute and said, "That would be nice."

*****

No recordings exist of my parents' wedding, but I have seen some photographs. They weren't married in Arlington; their ceremony was held at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., on March 30, 1957, at 3 p.m. The Reverend Peter Maher presided.
Nobody interrupted their wedding ceremony, either, especially "Sis." This dream came from the fact that Sis was somewhat involved in pushing us to change plans for our wedding reception. She wanted to get on the road back to South Carolina, so one or more of her children approached us and sort of strong-armed us to cut the cake at that moment, so they could then say their goodbyes and hit the road. I haven't seen my aunt since. That's not the only reason -- we moved to Tennessee shortly after the wedding, so if we travel, we're either going home to Virginia, or taking a vacation to a new place. We only have so much vacation time, and South Carolina has never fit into our plans.

I think that my parents' outfits in this dream came from a photo I'd seen of them on an Easter Sunday in the 1950s. I haven't seen many pictures of my mom wearing hats, but she did on special occasions back in those days.

By the way, an odd coincidence occurred to me this morning, concerning Mom and her life at 3374 N. Dinwiddie. She moved into the house when she was 33, and left it for the last time when she was 74...