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When I arrived home at 11:45 am that morning, I wasn't surprised to see that my Mom had decorated the family room for the short ceremony.
Going with a Christmas theme, she had purchased a beautiful wreath for over the fireplace and had draped a string of garland with giant red bows along the mantel, accenting the scene with candles of various sizes. On each side of the fireplace, she had also placed small Christmas trees situated on crates and decorated with twinkling lights and red poinsettias.
Kelly was going to love it.
"Happy Wedding Day, darling!" my mom shouted in greeting, before enveloping me in a bear hug.
"Mom, this is great! I can't believe you did this."
"Pshaw, this is the least I can do. Look, I even made sure that you could easily incorporate your Christmas decorations," she said practically bouncing. My mother loved to do things for the people she cared about. "Now, I'm going to give you five minutes to do any business you need to do near that front door, and then you are being relegated to the kitchen.
"I know this is just the legal ceremony, but you will not see Kelly until she walks down those stairs." Then she squealed, kissed me on the cheek and started singing the song "I'm Getting Married in the Morning," while checking to make sure all of the decorations were ship-shape.
Once I arrived in the kitchen, I found Joan and my dad setting up a small tray of hors-d'oeuvres next to the most miniature cake I had ever seen.
"I'm not quite sure that this will feed everyone here, Joan. Do we have anything in the freezer I can help whip up?" I asked, hoping to sound both grateful and helpful. It was a thoughtful and beautiful spread, even if it would only feed two of our group.
"That's because it won't. Us old folks have reservations at the country club at 12:45 pm to celebrate so that you can have a quiet but short lunch with your bride," she said, placing a short peck on my cheek.
"Hey son, do you by any chance have the marriage license handy? I want to go ahead and fill out anything I need to ahead of time. Your mom even prefilled out your envelope so that we can drop it at the post office on the way to lunch," my dad said with a rare toothy smile.
As I handed the license to my dad from my breast pocket, my ears were suddenly assaulted by my mom bursting through the kitchen door and squealing, "She's here!" before adding, "Now Dale, all we need now is to put on your boutonniere, and you are free to go stand by the fireplace with your father." With full red roses pinned to our chests, we all re-entered the living room to await my bride.
My smile was so big at that moment; you could probably see every single one of my teeth.
My bride! My freaking, awesome bride!
While we were in the kitchen, my mother had been busy setting up my iPod with instrumental versions of classic songs, which was now featuring Your Song by Elton John.
Before I could turn to comment on her excellent song choice, another surprise addition to our group grabbed my attention. Polly's brother, Seth, was currently wielding a very expensive camera and hovering by the front door.
Thank you, mom, for remembering everything!
With everyone in their places, and with the clock reading 11:55 am, Joan headed upstairs to begin escorting my bride down the stairs.
The first thing I saw as her heeled foot landed on the first set of stairs, was her exquisite calf.
She had the most amazing legs. Just the other day a lady at the park had even asked her what her leg routine consisted of after commenting on those gorgeous muscles leading up to her knees.
As she continued her descent with her mother in tow, she was absolutely stunning. Dressed in off-white and carrying a bouquet of red roses, my heart raced with anticipation.
She was my life's greatest gift.