June Weddings (From
book Spider’s Big Catch) by Gary E. Anderson www.abciowa.comAs June wraps its arms around us like warm hug of a favorite aunt, I begin to think about weddings. I've been a musician for thirty years, and I've played at scores of weddings and receptions, sometimes more than once for same person. It was a way to make a living—the money was good and there was usually decent food.
As a wedding soloist, I’d sit off to side, watching brides in white dresses and grooms in rented tuxedos promise to love each other forever. But somehow, I couldn’t shake a sadness that always hung over me as I watched, knowing that one in every two marriages will fail.
I can’t explain it, but over years, I developed an eye for knowing whether a couple was going to make it or not. There was just something about way bride and groom related to each other—the look in their eyes and their body language—that offered clues as to how their marriage was going to turn out.
Then one afternoon, while our band was playing for a large reception in a small town ballroom, I casually looked across vast sea of people. My glance moved from table to table, until I saw bride and groom, sitting alone in a corner. They were sitting in total ease, holding hands, saying nothing.
Her flowing white dress and his tuxedo seemed out of place, but their happiness and comfort with each other was totally apparent. There was no question that those two people belonged together. They would’ve been sitting there in those same two chairs, still holding hands in exactly same way, if they’d been wearing blue jeans and overalls at someone else’s reception.
