Whenever I hear that someone is getting married, I can't help but gush and say, "Aww, that's so sweet." Even with learning of the recent news this past week of superstar diva Tina Turner about to marry again at age 73, my cheeks instantly rose to a smile and my eyes almost teared as I became emotional. It just goes to show you that love is ageless and marriage is timeless.
The traditions of marriage are what you make them, but the ones with sympathetic meaning are truly classics. As a little girl who dreamed of a big wedding, I would often stencil out what I would use for the wedding traditions that I grew up knowing and adored -- something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue.
Something old would be covered by my mother or grandmother. I was thinking a piece of jewelry that would be sufficient. If either one of them would have asked me to wear their wedding dresses, I may have had to use myself as being old because I would have aged several years trying to find the right way to tell them "I decline."
Something new would be covered by me because even as a little girl I was a black belt shopper. I'm sure I would have found a nice headpiece or pair of shoes that would qualify. The sheer fun of shopping is a part of the experience and the actual find would be a showstopper.
Something borrowed of course would come from my maid of honor. My BFF at the time of my daydream wedding was full of eccentrics and I'm sure she would have something out of the ordinary for me to wear for a few hours. That I could count on.
Something blue would have been encased in my bouquet of lilies with a nice bow or accent piece so that it would stand out as I strolled down the aisle and in the thousands of pictures that were going to be a must by my professional photographer and amateurs alike.
There it was. I had it all planned out by the age of 12 and tweaked it every now and again for good measure. Well, the time for marriage came quickly in my life. It wasn't a shotgun wedding but it was definitely on the hush. In effort to honor the commitment, that little girl that did all of the daydream planning... eloped. The dream wedding was over in my mind and pushed into long term memory in a matter of minutes.
Fortunately, there were no regrets. Plenty of conversations about what we did, why we did it, and how we did it, but no hard feelings for the decisions that were made. And now, as I approach my 25th wedding anniversary in a few years, the 12-year-old little girl that still lives inside of me has pulled back out that piece of paper.
Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue...ma and grandma are long gone but the classic traditions will forever be...evergreen.