Three Wedding Pictures

Today, December 16th, is our nineteenth wedding anniversary. I remembered this one. We actually got married twice. The first time was in Pennsylvania, and since Rosina's family was all in Brasil, my mother, a woman with three boys, got to plan a wedding. For Rosina and me it was really easy. We showed up one week before the wedding and there it was. It was at night, black tie, and the church was decorated with greens for Christmas.

Months before we had decided to get married, Rosina was in the attic with my father and he was opening these old boxes of dresses that belonged to my Grandmother. They were all from the twenties, flapper dresses and evening gowns. Rosina said, "If there's a wedding dress in that box, I'll marry your son." And there was. It's the dress Rosina actually wore for the wedding. My grandmother wore it in 1927. Rosina put finger waves in her hair and wore these cute silver shoes. She looked great. My father lost it when he saw her all dressed up like that. He walked her down the aisle.

Our second wedding was in January in Brasil. It was at her brother's ranch about an hour and half from Rio de Janeiro. Her bouquet was made from flowers gathered around the property. We wore white, we were barefoot and we got married by the bank of the river that runs through the property. It was pretty groovy. The justice of the peace that married us was completely wall-eyed so he managed to look us both in the eye at the same time. The ceremony was in portuguese so Rosina squeezed my hand when I was supposed to say "sim" (yes). After the ceremony, we climbed up on this big rock and jumped into the river. It all seems very fairy tale right now. It's like a movie where all this nice stuff happens and it's charmed and romantic and then later in the story the wife gets sick and while you're drawn in and feeling it, you're kind of pissed off that the nice story took this highly dramatic and uncalled for turn. It certainly sharpens your appreciation for the easy times. Most of which you didn't even know were that easy. I love you Z, here's to many more years. Nineteen's not a very big number.


Rosina is holding steady, opening her eyes, and proceeding very sloooowly. So far, so good. We have a mile of baby steps. Thanks so much, everyone for your concern and kind words, and help.

xo
ph