Making A Run For It?

I was at the church for a wedding rehearsal, quite a few years ago, and we were waiting for the bride to show up.  The starting time for the rehearsal had come and gone.  People were making phone calls.  The bridesmaids and groomsmen were standing around waiting and whispering.  Other family members were standing around waiting and whispering.

I didn’t have anyone to talk to, so I just whispered to myself.  Boy, I told myself some pretty good secrets.

The bride and her maid of honor were coming, we had all been assured, but in the meantime, we stood around and the clock kept ticking.

Finally, about 25 minutes after we were scheduled to start, someone standing in the lobby looking at the parking lot yelled out, “She’s here!  The bride is here!”  And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

I walked to the lobby and, as the bride walked in the door, I smiled and started to say, “Well, well, there she is…”  But I never got the words out.  She stepped inside the building, burst into tears, and ran down the hall into the ladies rest room.

That’s not a good sign.

I know that planning weddings can cause some tension.  It can be stressful.  It’s a big event and there are lots of details that have to be managed in order for the day to come off smoothly.  That kind of pressure can certainly get the nerves on edge, but by and large, it is usually a fairly happy experience.  It’s normally a time of celebration.  Well, I don’t have to tell you, the celebratory feelings were not particularly powerful, at that moment.

I never did find out what the exact problem was.  I heard rumors that her tardiness and her tears involved hurt feelings resulting from some remark.  Another rumor was that it had something to do with a family member’s involvement in the wedding ceremony that displeased the bride.  (*Rule of thumb: Don’t displease the bride at a wedding, if you can help it.)

We waited another 15 minutes, or so, before we actually got the rehearsal underway.  During that waiting time, I noticed that the groom had gone off by himself and simply sat down in the one of the pews with his head in his hands, staring at the ground.  Was he praying?  I don’t know.  Should he have been praying?  Yeah, sure, that would have been a good idea.

From time to time, the groom would look up and shake his head, as if he knew that what was happening now, was probably not going to be an uncommon experience in his life.

At one point, for a real quick moment—just a flash in time—our eyes met, the groom and I.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I believe that, with his eyes, he communicated to me this question:  “Should I just make a run for it?”  He said this with merely the look in his eyes.

It was very subtle.  It happened quickly as our eyes met.  It was almost imperceptible, but I’m pretty sure it happened.  I think I read that question in his eyes.  So with my eyes, as he looked at me, I tried to communicate back to him: “Yes.  Yes, run.”  Just using my eyes, “If you’re going to run, now is the time.  But if you run, remember this: run fast, and run far.  And you will probably need to stay gone for a while.”

Well, fortunately, he knew better.  He didn’t run.  And we had the rehearsal.  It went pretty well.  And the next day we had the wedding.  It went very well.  And today… they are still happily married.

So, you never know.  Sometimes an inauspicious beginning doesn’t mean that love can’t continue to flower and bloom.

Alright, I’m going to go practice saying things with my eyes.