Thought of the Day

Once Joe got out the door last night I grabbed an ice pack and propped my feet up on the couch with the remote control, and settled in to my weekend.  After the nasty way the week started, it felt really good to sink onto the sofa and feel my body relax.  I turned on the TV, scrolled thru the guide, and found that they were doing back to back showings of these movies.  How could I not watch?

I think I had just started 5th grade when Father of the Bride came out.  And I LOVED IT.  I thought Annie was beautiful and wanted to grow up looking and acting just like her.  I thought the Banks' home was gorgeous.  I thought Annie's wedding was the most fabulous I had ever seen and hoped that one day mine would measure up to it too.  But what I really loved was Annie's relationship with her dad George, played by the hilarious Steve Martin.  They played basketball in their backyard, just like my dad and I.  He was the over-bearing, over protective parent who had trouble with change, just like mine.  Her mom was the one who quietly straightened out everything with extreme amounts of patience, just like mine.  It just so happened that year was my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary, so to celebrate, they took us all on a cruise of the Mediterranean.  On the two flights to Spain the movie showed was Father of the Bride.  In the theater on the cruise ship, the movie was Father of the Bride.  On the flights home... you guessed it.  I was in heaven, and due to that frequent viewing, we all had the whole thing pretty much memorized and still quote some of the one liners to each other ("Velcome to the nineties Mr. Bonks!!!", "No, no, I said TWO hundred and fifty a head...").  I think this and Pride & Prejudice are the two movies I get the most flack/teasing about subjecting my family to.

When thirteen years later I was planning my own wedding, I pulled it out and watched it just for kicks.   It was hard to believe that I was as old as Annie and that it was my turn.  I wonder if my Dad felt the same way too.

Sorry, but believe it or not, this is the only wedding pic that I could find on the laptop... the desktop is not up and running yet.  This is me and my mentor Melinda (a bridesmaid) getting hair/makeup done before the wedding.

And seeing it last night make me grin and even tear up a little too (am I becoming like my mother or what?!?) from being on the opposite side of things.  Is it crazy that here I am thinking about how a comedy from the early nineties has been applicable to my life over a span of 17 years?  Because now I see it a little more from the parent's view point.  I've had my turn.  One day, I'll have an Annie.  And it will be her turn to be the bride, and Joe and I will have to let go. Is that schmaltzy or what?  But that's all I've got on a Saturday morning...