We married on June 21, 2003 -- nine years ago today. We had 175 guests at Fort Knox with all kinds of Civil War touches. It was a wedding so unique that we made Monday's Bangor Daily News with a color photo (and article). We also got 60 seconds on the Channel 5 local news, at both 6 and 11pm.
It sure was an occasion. Our matron-of-honor came from Scotland, and the bridesmaids all wore colorful hoop-skirt dresses that Mom spent months sewing. She also made my dress, complete elegance with lace and "lines." Frank wore his 20th Maine uniform, with the sky-blue pants that he didn't finish sewing -- on his treadle machine -- until the evening before. There was so much perfect about that day.
Frank and I continued to remark about our wedding for all the years ahead. Looking back, one of the ironies is that our marriage started by getting on the local TV news, and it ended that way, too. Just three days before he died, a Channel 6 television crew came to the VA hospice at Togus Hospital to film our love story ... when the UMM Ukuleles drove four hours in a snowstorm to play for him and the other patients and their families in the hospice.
I am saddened when I think too much about losing Frank far too early, even though we made that promise nine years ago, "til death do we part." But I know better. A friend from Eastport, who also lost her husband to cancer years ago, made a comment on Facebook, that it's better to think about what we had, than what I have lost. I have to agree. At least, I'm trying to think that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment