Guide And Groom

With the date for the wedding set ... there was one more thing to be taken care of ... usually ... Yvonne would be marrying a Catholic .. and what was required by the church was that Yvonne and I would take a five part marriage prep course ... basically a guide for younger couples ... you can now do it online ... but back in the day it was usually given by married church members ... I forget what the cost was then ... but it is big dollars today .. more if you buy the workbooks and want longer term access to reference materials ... 

Of course I wasn't catholic .. or anything ... and anybody who knew me then would have told you there is not a religious bone in my body ... whatever it is religion does for the people who believe in it and need it .. it does the opposite for me ... and I have not changed in that regard ... but I have something a lot of folks don't .. tolerance ... I know that Yvonne was extremely nervous about this .. thought it might be a deal breaker ... but it turns out we had an ally ... Yvonne's cousin was going to marry us ... and he was the one who would decide what we needed to do as a 'mixed' religion couple ... 

I vaguely remember meeting him ... but I don't remember what we talked about ... but I am sure there was one topic that was covered very well ... Aristotle is quoted as saying ... give me the child until (s)he is seven and I will show you the (wo)man ... I am sure that we discussed that any children coming out of the union would be raised catholic ... and my reply would have been something like ... Yvonne will have total responsibility and control over that ... one thing I do remember is that I signed something .. I have idea what it was or where it is ... the bottom line was that neither Yvonne or I took any course ... 

Yvonne seemed to be in control and quite busy with wedding prep .. all I had to do was pick out the rental suits for the best man and ushers and turn that responsibility over the best man ... if I did anything else after that .. I have no memory of it ... it was just like this well oiled marriage machine automatically started and I wasn't needed until the day of ... 

I know that Yvonne and her older sister did a hell of a lot of sewing .. they made all the gowns and accoutrements ... her father made a batch of Japanese gin .. some kind of homemade hooch that would prove to the hit of the day .. somebody made all the motel arrangements for the out of towners in the wedding party .. Yvonne and I must have picked out invitations ... I just have no memory ...

Yes .. I did remember the ring ... but I have no memory of buying it .. I must have gotten it at Peoples Jewellers again ... I assume I gave it to Bill and then I simply watched as the machine went about organizing the big day ... Bill, RC and I partied away .. while Yvonne did double duty with us and the wedding prep ... I literally walked into the church on the 14 August 1976 .. not having done a damn thing ... and scared shitless ... 



Phil (20 January 2021 - San Patricio de Melaque - 9:14 PM)


Krome Koan - 'Lead me not into temptation; I can find it by myself'




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