Judy and I went to a wedding yesterday. Julie was one of the bridesmaids. I remember the weddings of my friends as great parties with lots of food, loud music, dancing and awkward speeches. I remember being in the generation of those being married it was a bit bittersweet because what followed was distancing from the couple as they discovered the ins and outs of married life. I was also the time worry that was typified in the Billy Lyrics of the time:” They started to fight when the money got tight and they just didn’t count on the tears.” It was a legitimate worry as I found out in my marriage; I didn’t count on the tears.
But now 34 years later and being in the generation of the parents watching children getting married, I have a different view. I am proud and hopeful. Marriage like life does change over the years and being successful in both is about embracing and working with the changes. Whether you are blessed with children or not marriage is about the future and that next generation. Each generation has to believe that committing yourself to another for a lifetime bumpy ride can give you more joy than moving sideways in life. I know it is true with Judy and I and I am proud that the next generation can see it. Proud because who consider marriage, a public profession of lifelong love, if they hadn’t seen the joy is out there to be realized? It is a lesson it take half a lifetime to first learn and then teach the next generation. I am hopeful also but not like before when I was worried if the couple is ready but a longer term hopeful. I am hopeful that during their learning that they will be the role models of joy the next generation will need.
