My friend Vicki has a beautiful post today about losing her Grandfather too soon to cancer. In her post she talks about how she’s hated Veterans’ Day ever since, because that’s the day that he died. Vicki’s post is heartfelt and well-written and I would encourage you all (all four of you who actually read this and I supposed the spam-bots that like to leave Cialis comments as well) to read it. This post isn’t about Vicki’s Grandfather, however, it’s about the fact that, as a result of the anniversary of her Grandfather’s death being the the same date, Vicki hate Veterans’ Day.
This amuses me (I really and truly regret that I can’t find a better word than “amuses,” because a good friend losing a loved one should never be amusing), because of a scene that my friend Liza and I saw on Monday.
A youngish couple was walking up the steps of the Cambridge City Hall. He was wearing a snazzy pin-striped suit. She had a beautiful dress on. They were holding hands and smiling. Liza and I were walking up those exact same steps, but we were less stylishly dressed and our sole purpose was to find a sunny spot to drink our recently purchased hot chocolates at. The young couple’s purpose was blatantly obvious. They were there to get married.
“What a sweet moment,” I thought, “we should offer them our congratulations.” It was a touching instance and I was happy to be apart of it, even just as the random girl, hot drink in hand, staring at them on the steps of City Hall. Unfortunately, the moment only lasted, well, a moment before the couple reached the doors, realized that they were locked out and read the sign the sign that said, “City Hall is Closed For Veterans’ Day. We Will Reopen on November 13th.”
We saw many people walk up those stairs as we sipped our drinks and enjoyed the sun. Not one of them looked as disappointed as our poor couple. To the couple’s credit, they shrugged their shoulders and walked off without a fuss. I doubt that I would have been that composed. Is it a bad omen for the beginning of your marriage that you have to delay said beginning because of Veterans’ Day, a Holiday that is only celebrated by Veterans, Civil Servants and those of us who work in Academia? I sincerely hope that the couple aren’t the superstitious kind and that they found someone else to marry them.
What would I have done if faced with a situation like that? Of course, I probably wouldn’t have been in a situation like that. If I’m going to get married without the benefit of having all of my friend and loved ones there to party with me, then I had best be getting married by Elvis and I sincerely doubt that he gets Veterans Day off. Of course, Elvis did meet Pricilla while serving in Germany, so perhaps Veterans’ Day was a romantic holiday in their household, celebrated with fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches and Elvis attempting (unsuccessfully) to put on his old army uniform in order to prove that it “still fit.”
Regardless of wether I someday get married in a church, on a beach or by Elvis, I hope that I have the grace to roll with the punches like that couple. You hear so many horror stories of bridezillas. you hear stories about people flipping out because the roses that they ordered for their bouquets aren’t the exact color that they requested. It was so refreshing to see a couple, faced with the prospect of not only having something about their wedding not going according to plan but the distinct possibility that their wedding might not take place at all, rolling with the punches. Disappointment is never fun, but it is a part of life. The world could use more people like those two.
I hope that our young couple found a place to get married. If they didn’t, I hope that they didn’t wrinkle their clothes too much and that they look just as lovely when they go back to City Hall on Monday. I hope that someday they get to hear their grandkids say, “tell us the story about how you got locked out of City Hall when you went to get married.” They’ll groan at having to tell the same story all over again (and again and again and again… you know how kids are), but smile inwardly about an event that has now become a family legend and a running joke.
I hope that this experience doesn’t harden their hearts against Veterans’ Day. Perhaps someday they will get jobs in academia and learn to love these random holidays and the unexpected day off as much as I do.
