That Was Then, This Is Now!

Me, as the flower girl, age 4, in my cousin Susan's wedding on Saturday, December 16, 1962.   Sorry for the picture quality but I was taking pictures of pictures in a photo album in a softly lit room full of candles.

The wedding party, adorned in satin, lace, deep red velvet dresses and black tuxedos.  I'm the short one, to the left of the bride, with the  frown on her face yet, (probably a good thing for me that you can't make that out so easily) still bravely holding on to the beautiful white fur muff which became one of my most prized possessions for many years.

I really enjoy reading the "Time-Warp Tuesday" installments on my good friend and fellow blogger, Karen's (www.spokalulu.wordpress.com) site.  She always gives me a good dose of pleasant memories and happy nostalgia to think about so, I thought I'd do my own "Time-Warp Tuesday."  Only, it's now Wednesday so, I think I'll call mine, at least for today, "That Was Then and This Is Now Wednesday."  Even with that explanation for a blog entry title, I'm already late in talking about it since this really has to do with this past Saturday, December 16, and the 50th Wedding Anniversary party for my Cousin Susan and her husband Bob.  I  had the good fortune to help celebrate it with them, and the rest of our family, not only this past Saturday, but also fifty years ago as the four-year-old little girl you see in the pictures above.  Yep! That's right.  I was in the wedding party as her flower girl.  I know, I know--even with the visual, if you know me, it's hard to visualize me as a flower girl, even at the age of four.

Susan as the beautiful and very happy bride.

The father of the bride, my Uncle Glen, walking his daughter down the aisle.

Flower girl (me)  and ring bearer (my cousin John) walking down the aisle, together.  The only thing I truly remember  is going faster than John and turning around to tell him to hurry up.  Gosh, I was bossy even then!

The year was 1962 and Susan, the beautiful bride and her handsome groom, Bob, with nothing but good fortune ahead of them, came together on a chilly mid-December evening in a candlelit church surrounded by loving family and friends looking on while casting warm wishes and glad tidings their way.  My cousin, John, one of Susan's younger brothers, was my partner in crime as the ring bearer and contrary to our very serious facial expressions, I'm told we had a good time.  Of course, that was after I cried through the wedding pictures (and probably ruined a few good ones, to be sure) because I was a very tired little girl who just wanted to go home and go to bed.  No such luck, I had to stay and party the night away.  You know, the more I write about this, the better I remember just how good my four-year-old life was!  Scratch the no such luck part.

Fifty years later, still the happy couple with their handsome son, Rob.

Fifty years later, the ring bearer, John, and flower girl, me, have aged a bit but I think we still make a pretty good-looking  flower girl and ring bearer duo.  We are available should you need us for your own wedding events.

Bob, me and Susan.  What a blessing it was for me to be a part of their history together.

Anyway, fifty years later, we toasted Susan, Bob and their wonderful son Robbie and celebrated their life together and all of their good fortune, once again, surrounded by loving family and friends this past Saturday evening in a candlelit room on a lovely old estate in Geneva, Illinois. If only Susan's parents, my Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Glen, both passed away for many years now, had been there to celebrate as well.  Yet, I think I saw them out of the corner of my eye, mingling and laughing with the other guests there as the champagne was poured and the cake was cut, once again, in the candle light of a chilly mid-December evening.

My Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Glen, proud and loving parents of Susan, the bride, the oldest of six siblings.  With that many brothers and sisters, how did I get to be in the wedding, you ask? Well, I had the good fortune to be just the right age at just the right time.  Susan's has two younger sisters; Kim who was a bridesmaid in the wedding and Vicky who was an infant at the time.  The other three siblings are boys, Buddy, Micheal and, of course, John.