From left to right my dad, Dave, 2 gentlemen I don't know, Uncle Jack, Aunt Ruth, my mom Grace,2 ladies I don't know. In front -- me on the left and my brother Jay on the right.
These are my memories of my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Jack's wedding-- fictionalized a little for dramatic effect:
The sun beat on the roof of the old bluestone church. Inside it was dark and cool. I waited for my Aunt Ruth’s wedding rehearsal to start. I was seven, and Evy, my three-year-old sister, were to be flower girls for it. We were nervous but excited. We would spread out the brides train when she got up to the front of the church. Evy and I would carry little white baskets with rose pedals inside, and were to wear long yellow dresses, with ruffles along the neck line, and around the hem.
The sun beat on the roof of the old bluestone church. Inside it was dark and cool. I waited for my Aunt Ruth’s wedding rehearsal to start. I was seven, and Evy, my three-year-old sister, were to be flower girls for it. We were nervous but excited. We would spread out the brides train when she got up to the front of the church. Evy and I would carry little white baskets with rose pedals inside, and were to wear long yellow dresses, with ruffles along the neck line, and around the hem.
Grandma,
Mama’s Mom, sat in the front pew and fanned herself with a discarded church
bulletin from Sunday. She looked
hot and tired. Grandma and Grandpa
had unloaded the decorations for the wedding from the car, and then everybody
helped to decorate the church.
I reached out and took Evy’s hand. I felt secure when my sister was
with me. I always knew that two
heads are better than one! My
brother, Jay, was to be a candle lighter.
I hoped he wouldn’t burn up the church. I had no control over him as he was two years older and had
ideas of his own. The church was St.
Paul’s Methodist in Spokane, WA.
It was my grandma and grandpa Edson’s church. My mom had grown up in the church and told us stories about
the Epworth League, which was the youth group she attended as a teen.
I had been
in many dance recitals so I knew what a rehearsal was. When we were told to walk down the
aisle of the church we pretended to drop rose petals on the floor as we walked
to the front of the church. Uncle
Jack was at the front of the church with his friends. Aunt Ruth walked down the aisle following Mom and the two
other ladies who were her bridesmaids.
It was too bad that my mom’s older sister, Aunt Evelyn, and her family, my uncle and my two cousins, would not be able
to attend the wedding. They had moved to Alaska and it was too far to come for
the wedding. Dad was one of the men who stood up with
Uncle Jack.
“We’ll see
everyone back here tomorrow,” the pastor announced.
The next day everybody got dressed in
what they were going to wear for the wedding except Aunt Ruth. She would wear the wedding dress that
my mom had worn, and then my Aunt Evelyn wore it for her wedding. But she would get dressed at the church
so that the dress wouldn’t get wrinkled.
Finally everyone was ready.
Evy, my mom, me.
On the way
to the church Evy fell asleep. Mom
put her in a crib in the nursery and Grandma arranged for a neighbor girl to
sit with her until she woke. The organist played and guests arrived. Still Evy slept.
It was
close to the time to start the wedding.
I was worried. I went to mom. “Shouldn’t we wake Evy?” I asked.
“If
we wake her she’ll be cranky and she won’t help the way you want her to. You may have to be the only flower
girl.”
“Mom,
I can’t do it by myself. I need
Evy. I get too scared.”
“I
know you’ll feel uncomfortable without Evy, but you can do it. Just imagine yourself whistling a happy
tune. Think about how much
everybody loves you,” Mom said.
“God is always with you.
He’ll give you the strength.
Now twirl around so I can see how pretty you look.
I
took a deep breath and said to herself, I don’t have to be afraid and
twirled.
Soon
it was time to walk down the aisle and Evy still wasn’t awake. I gritted my teeth and tried to whistle
a happy tune in my mind. Maybe
this wouldn’t be as bad as I imagined either. I walked slowly down the aisle, stood where we had practiced
that I would stand, and watched Aunt Ruth come down the aisle with Grandpa. She looked beautiful. Finally the bride and groom were
together. The train floated like a
pond of milk covering every square inch of space between the rows of pews and
down the aisle.
After
the ceremony we had pictures taken.
Evy was still not awake so I gritted my teeth again. I looked sad in every picture, as I
wasn’t happy about being a flower girl alone. During the reception everyone
told me what a good job I had done.
I was glad I had made it through the wedding and now I felt happy but it
was too late to smile in any of the pictures!
Aunt Ruth's and Uncle Jack's daughter Diana wearing the wedding dress at my parents 50th wedding anniversary party. My cousin Dorothy's daughter, Cindy, has the dress now.
