Wedding Day

Our wedding ceremony took place at 10 in the morning on a sunny and potentially hot Saturday. Why so early? I did not want to wait until evening, and Husband agreed it was a good way to begin the weekend.

Our small gathering supported our vows. My mother invited everyone to their house for food and fun. We left the festivities around 1 pm, and when his sister asked where we were going, he answered, “To bed,” which embarrassed me beyond my ability to express it.

Actually we changed clothes and went to the county zoo. The temperature was an actual 110 degrees that day while we walked around viewing the elephants and a giraffe’s purple tongue.

I don’t remember why we chose to do this other than we could not check into our hotel until late afternoon. We were young, so I don’t recall that the heat and sun bothered us much while we were in it.

We finally checked in to our downtown hotel located on the main thoroughfare of our city. By the time we got settled, I was hungry and tired, and I needed a shower. Carefully I placed my suitcase on the extra bed and gathered all clothing to take with me to the bathroom.

When I came out, fully-dressed of course, Husband was sitting in a chair next to the window overlooking the busy street. He smiled widely at me, which did not seem out of place since we had just gotten married. He kept looking out the window to the cars below. Finally he said, “Hey, guy, quit looking at my wife’s underwear.” I immediately went on alert and looked through my suitcase. Pairs of undies were missing, so I ran to the window. Yes, exactly. The missing pairs hanged from the window, flapping in the Kansas wind.

He thought it was the funniest thing he had done that day. All these years later, he tells me I slapped him. “That certainly wasn’t the reaction I expected,” he says.

I think I did laugh at him, and as my children regularly say, I enforced his doing something totally inappropriate and his sense of humor. “Mom, don’t encourage him,” the kids tell me.

We went to dinner in the restaurant where we had enjoyed important dates. As I looked across the table, the thought occurred to me that I would spend many meals for the remainder of my life doing the same thing: looking across the table at him. I wondered if we would run out of things to say. I wondered if I had made the correct decision to get married. After all, it was a colossal and solemn decision. I am not aware those thoughts entered his mind.

Afterwards, we walked across the street to a park next to the river. Suddenly I felt ill and went to the women’s facility. Later I found out he was in the men’s facility being sick, too. I hoped it was nerves and heat and not getting married to me.

I think that was the last of the seriousness for the weekend. One thing I need to mention is the telephone in our hotel bathroom. He was exceedingly impressed by it. Yes, the luxury part of our room was a yellow phone attached to the cabinet next to the toilet. Even for the early 1970’s, this was unique, and Husband became enthralled with the new toy.

He spent several minutes that evening and the next morning phoning family and friends in our city. When they answered, he would say, “Bar-room! (Pause) Guess where I’m at?” Then he would hold the phone to the toilet as he flushed. People on the other end were shocked and speechless for a few seconds. Each time, Husband roared with laughter.

To his way of thinking, this was the second funniest thing he had done since we married. My life as his wife had officially begun.