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Wedding Lore

© Virginia Marin

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Have you ever stopped to consider the folklore which surrounds a wedding? Everything associated with it is steeped in the past. A wedding is a moment lost in time, and for a brief period the present ceases to be.

Well, weddings also reminds us that time passes very quickly--too quickly. One day our children are infants, and before we know it, the years have caught up with them or, more correctly, should I say, the years have caught up with the parents. For, you see, I do not believe that we can totally account for ALL of our parental days, and some days, for all of us, have been lost in time. When I cannot account for something misplaced or lost, I am fond of saying that it has gone to the Land of Lost Buttons. That mythical land has collected a lot of my misplaced buttons! I believe when our tears come at weddings, we are remembering lost buttons.

Then someplace along the line, when this youngest daughter married, the realization of that hazy, long-ago kindergarden hit me. Four-year kindergarden entrants, had to pass an entrance test. One of the questions was "How many wheels does a car have?" Our daughter told the nun three. Sister Principal said to her, "Why do you say a car has three wheels?" Rebecca very casually replied, "A tricycle has three wheels, and a tricycle is my car!" The nun later told me about this, and with a twinkle in her eye added--"How could I reject such a logical answer?" Then, as quickly as that first day came, four and five year kindergarden had come and gone.

Grade school, middle and high school years passed quite quickly, also. There are many wonderful reminders in my scrap books, but one event that remains very dear to me is The Colonial Ball of 1984. The handsome young man on my daughter's arm is her cousin, who died two years ago from a rare and aggressive form of cancer. Her escort is standing to her right.

There are many wonderful years and events in families that pebble life's path to a wedding day. Then, one day, it arrives. Even though we say we are ready for it, are we--really? Eventually, the answer must be, yes, because that is the way it is suppose to be, as is so eloquently said in the beautiful wedding anthem,The Song of Ruth: