Blowing Kisses to the West

In a few minutes my little cousin Karina is going to marry her long time boyfriend Enrique. We have called him girlfriend for a long time now. Does this mean that we have to call him wife now? They are getting married while he is on leave from the Marines, in a civil ceremony at the court house. The same court house that I married my first husband 7 years ago this month. So as we will blow kisses to the west to wish them love and laughter and a marriage that will pass the test of time I can't help but remember my first wedding. My ex-husband and I had been engaged for a short 4 months when we decided to stop the plans for the big wedding in July and we called our parents a few days before and told them that we were getting married at the court house on the following Saturday morning. It was impulsive and it was a dumb idea. My ex-husband is a Jehovah witness and a big time momma's boy and we were not "allowed" to live together until we got married. My roommate at the time had moved out and my ex and I did not want to lose the apartment. I guess he could have not lived there and paid rent for 7 months, but the planning was really getting to me and I just wanted to get it over with. So we threw in the towel and got married by court. I wore a green dress that Jessica had handed down to me and he wore slacks, shirt and tie. My parents, siblings, Chone (she was 5 months old), my grandparents, his mom and brother. Thats it. No more family, and no friends. After a 5 minute ceremony we all headed out to a Millies for lunch. Thats it. No hoop-la, not even vows. I always regretted it. Afterwards I realized the importance of a wedding and vows and celebrating family and friends. Thank God Joey and I did it right.

I am happy to report that Karnia and Enrique were married in a civil ceremony with family and friends surrounding them. Karina looked beautiful and Enrique looked estatic. They had a small reception complete with a wedding cake and dancing. Sounds like a great start to a great life together!