A Wedding

Well, tomorrow morning we are off! We're going to Mecca... I mean Maryland... for my cousin's wedding.

I may be alone in this sentiment among married couples, but whenever I go to a wedding I think three things:

1. I'm glad my wedding is over. Marriage is MUCH better than planning a wedding.

2. I'm glad I can be here to witness these vows.

3. Enough with the vows. Where's the cake?

Now this particular wedding is bound to make me feel old because I remember my cousin as a wee baby. There's this recurring thought in my head: "He can't get married! He's only 5 years old!" But he is now a strapping young man of 22-ish. He just graduated from the Naval Academy and will be a doting husband, I'm sure.

Also, for the past 20 years, I have been calling my cousin "Tommy". But now he goes by "Tom". I can't call him "Tom". If I do, I'm admitting that he's grown now.

He's marrying a lovely woman (whew- I ALMOST said "girl") named Nicole. Tom's mother, Aunt Margie, actually taught Nicole in elementary school. Who knew that Aunt Margie was teaching her future daughter in law the basics of, say, sentence structure? "Now, class," she would say, "you NEVER KNOW who you will marry and I insist that you write in proper sentences so that your wedding invitation will be perfect." You think I'm joking, my teacher friends, but you'll take the heat if your future in-law is in your class and can't use a comma correctly to save their life. Think about it.

But back to Tom and Nicole- I'm very happy for you. If you're tired of the wedding hoopla, there's a light at the end of the tunnel: It's called marriage. Congrats to you both!