I Don't Cry at Weddings
I am happily married, have been to dozens of weddings in the last 10 years, and cry at every Chick Flick available. But I don't cry at weddings-typically. I can recall 3 weddings that I have cried at. 1. my own wedding 2. My friend Kristine and her new husband gave Kristine's son a ring and devoted themselves as his parents. Emma was a baby. I cried. 3. Today.
Today Mark Towns, Doug's best friend since 4th grade, got married. I have known Mark as long as I have known Doug, which is more of my life than I have not known them-if that makes sense. Mark hated me in high school, but we worked together at the daycare and he came around to me and we became friends. Mark sang at our wedding, came to our house the day we brought Emma home from the hospital, lived with us for a short period of time when he didn't have anywhere else to go, and has confided some very personal information to us. We love him.
Today he got married. About a year or so ago, he told me he would never get married. He had embraced that. There just wasn't anybody out there for him. (He is extremely picky- to a fault- I mean PICKY.) He has had several unhappy years as he has watched most of his friends get married and start families, while he remained a bachelor. Joe did a fabulous job as the marrier, he always does. I sat in my seat and watched Mark and Mary joke with each other, whisper private comments in front of us-the audience, look into each other's eyes and forgetting that the rest of us were in the room. My eyes were welling up throughout the service. But then, Mark surprised Mary by singing "I'll be There". He got choked up and couldn't finish. He started crying and most of the rest of us did too. Here he was- happy. It was a happy ending to his misery. I can't say that their marriage will be a success, but I hope for Mark that it will. I have never seen him as happy as he's been since he met her.
Joe said that everybody who knew Mark had been waiting for her to show up. I realized that was true. I used to joke with him that if I ever met one of his girlfriends that that would be the girl he would marry because he never really dated anyone long enough for me to meet her. I met Mary. She seems great. She seems perfect for him. I am happy for them. I like when weddings remind me how great marriage is, and remind me how handsome my husband is in a tux.
I am happily married, have been to dozens of weddings in the last 10 years, and cry at every Chick Flick available. But I don't cry at weddings-typically. I can recall 3 weddings that I have cried at. 1. my own wedding 2. My friend Kristine and her new husband gave Kristine's son a ring and devoted themselves as his parents. Emma was a baby. I cried. 3. Today.
Today Mark Towns, Doug's best friend since 4th grade, got married. I have known Mark as long as I have known Doug, which is more of my life than I have not known them-if that makes sense. Mark hated me in high school, but we worked together at the daycare and he came around to me and we became friends. Mark sang at our wedding, came to our house the day we brought Emma home from the hospital, lived with us for a short period of time when he didn't have anywhere else to go, and has confided some very personal information to us. We love him.
Today he got married. About a year or so ago, he told me he would never get married. He had embraced that. There just wasn't anybody out there for him. (He is extremely picky- to a fault- I mean PICKY.) He has had several unhappy years as he has watched most of his friends get married and start families, while he remained a bachelor. Joe did a fabulous job as the marrier, he always does. I sat in my seat and watched Mark and Mary joke with each other, whisper private comments in front of us-the audience, look into each other's eyes and forgetting that the rest of us were in the room. My eyes were welling up throughout the service. But then, Mark surprised Mary by singing "I'll be There". He got choked up and couldn't finish. He started crying and most of the rest of us did too. Here he was- happy. It was a happy ending to his misery. I can't say that their marriage will be a success, but I hope for Mark that it will. I have never seen him as happy as he's been since he met her.
Joe said that everybody who knew Mark had been waiting for her to show up. I realized that was true. I used to joke with him that if I ever met one of his girlfriends that that would be the girl he would marry because he never really dated anyone long enough for me to meet her. I met Mary. She seems great. She seems perfect for him. I am happy for them. I like when weddings remind me how great marriage is, and remind me how handsome my husband is in a tux.
1 Comments:
At 5:00 PM,
Kenny said…
It's worth noting that the song Mark sang to Mary was a song he wrote for her, not that hokey Michael Jackson song. It was beautiful.
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