Ringers
As a deacon I had the privilege of witnessing the
marriage of the youngest son of good friends of ours and his bride this past
weekend. Although I have gotten the
opportunity to know the bride through the marriage prep discussions I had with
the couple, I didn’t really know much about her family.
It was an innocent question that came up at the
rehearsal dinner the evening before the wedding that started it all. I was seated across the table from my good
friend, the father of the groom, when one of his sons seated a couple of chairs
down from him questioned whether he expected to win the anniversary dance. The anniversary dance being where all of the
married couples at the reception are invited to the dance floor; then couples
are eliminated by anniversary year until the couple who has been married the
longest is left out on the dancefloor.
My friend shook his head right away and explained that
his aunt and uncle would likely win. “And
if they leave early, (and pointing at me) besides them, Dan and Michelle have
been married longer than mom and I.” I
nodded my head even though it kind of startled me to think that my bride and I
might be the ‘seniors’ at the dance. But,
the subject got changed and I didn’t give it any additional thought.
At the dinner Michelle and I were actually seated at
the same table as the aunt and uncle that my friend had mentioned the evening
before. The subject that they had been
married 54 years even came up in the conversation. I was quite OK with knowing that there was another
couple who outranked us, especially since they looked to be “much” older than
Michelle and I. It was even a bit
comforting.
But that all changed once the dinner was served and
finished. Everyone else at the table was
older than us. Not only that, but the
wedding had taken place in the Madison area and they all lived in the Fox
Valley, about two hours north. Michelle
and I opted to book our hotel for Saturday evening as well, but it became clear
that they all had opted to leave early and drive home.
Sure enough, by the time the speeches were finished
and they cleared the dancefloor Michelle and I were the last two seated at our
table. We watched the first dance of the
newlyweds and the dances with the parents.
Then they announced that the anniversary dance was next. I scanned the dancefloor; we apparently were “it”. Sure enough, couples were eliminated fairly
quickly and returned to their seats. Our
friends and us were the final two couples on the floor. This was in the bag. When the DJ announced 45 years, our final
competition was eliminated since we celebrated 46 years several weeks ago.
Michelle surprised me because she obviously enjoyed
the moment; she wore a broad smile, even did a little spin and bowed to the
crowd who applauded nicely for us. My
emotions were still spinning a bit when a voice shouted from the far back of
the room, “Wait, wait! We have a couple
back here that has been married 68 years!”
Sure enough. The crowd parted to
reveal an elderly man hunched over his walker and his bride who was also
slightly bent over, but walking unassisted, albeit very slowly forward. I found out later that these were the
grandparents of the bride; I hadn’t had a chance to meet them earlier or even
know that they were in the crowd as they were seated all the way across the
room from us.
The ”prize” for winning the anniversary dance is the
opportunity to offer some sage advice to the wedding couple. “It goes so fast, enjoy and cherish every
day!” I nodded; the advice was sound
enough. The smile never left Michelle’s
face and she applauded enthusiastically.
Honestly though, I was still trying to process being dethroned almost
instantaneously. I approached my good
friend, the father of the groom. “I didn’t
know you were going to bring in a couple of ringers, just so Michelle and I
couldn’t win!” We had a good laugh.
I finally settled on a question that soothed my ruffled
feathers: Losing the contest for being the oldest couple really wasn’t losing
was it?
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
Photo by Narissa de Villiers on Unsplash
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