Once upon a time....part 3

Well where were we.....Oh yes the night before the wedding, the frozen water, the sick bride and.....the missing cowboy.


As the bride sat with her dripping nose, and itching her hives, unbeknowest to her, the cowboy was forging his way to her. No ice storm would keep him from his appointed task. The brides father was busy at the church salting the steps trying to get the covering of ice to thaw. The brides mother was.....well what do mothers of brides do at this point? They run around bossing everybody, and generally have a small nervous breakdown. Finally at around 1 in the afternoon the cowboy drives up to the house. The bride is so excited to see him that drippy nose, and hives are forgotten. All is well! So what if the temperature is in the teens,so what if the water is frozen. Uh oh, the water is frozen! By the looks of it FDH has not had a bath, or shaved in......at least a few days. And his clothes, which are stuffed in a duffel bag, are not ironed. And for that matter, the bride hasn't had a bath either. What to do?? They couldn't go to their rehearsal looking like something the cat drug in. Not to worry, the brides aunt lives in town, only 20 miles away. Only 20 miles on a slick highway. Oh well, the wedding must go on.


Two hours, 40 miles, and 2 baths later the cowboy and the farmers daughter returned back to the farm. With everybody loaded in her daddy's old 4-wheel drive off they went to the church. They stepped gingerly up the steps, went in the church and the rehearsal began.



When the weather is like the weather was that December of 1983 it tends to make folks......how would I say this....somewhat testy. Tempers flare. And on top of just generally bad weather, the stress of putting together an event such as a wedding can bring people to the breaking point. Yes I said the breaking point. DM was at such a point. The poor woman had been planning a wedding for months. She also was charge nurse at the local hospital. She hates the cold. She had no water in her home, and she also had to put up with a daughter that.....well.....had proved to be somewhat difficult over all the wedding plans. So needless to say, she was tired, she was stressed, and she was in no mood for the preacher to take over her wedding.



It started with the program he had planned. It was short. She did not want short. She wanted long. This event had cost alot of money, and it was not going to be over in 10 minutes. Make it longer. Finally after much,"discussion," that problem was solved to both their satisfaction. Next problem: The bridesmaids dresses. Yes I said the bridesmaids dresses. They could be worn on the shoulder, or off. DM wanted off the shoulder, the preacher said on the shoulder. Now really it was not that big a deal, but when you have people affected with cabin fever, a month long case of cabin fever, everything becomes a big deal. Now how this came up, I honestly don't know. It was not as if we were having a dress rehearsal. But come up it did. And why the preacher thought it was any of his business I really don't know either. But he did. The dresses were far from immodest, but it seemed to be an issue. After much discussion, nothing was solved, and Daddy advised that the subject be dropped. After much time had elapsed, on went the rehearsal. We rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed some more. Finally we had it down to DM's satisfaction. Whew, what a night. Next came the funny part of the whole evening. We were done, getting ready to leave, and the cowboy produced the marriage license. Not knowing any better, the preacher said well he guessed he better sign it, this was his first wedding by the way, which might explain a few things about his mood. He signed it and handed it back to my FDH. Well FDH looked at it laughed and said. " Well I guess since we are legal we can start the honeymoon tonight." Stop! Silence, you could have heard a pin drop. Preacher is standing there stuttering and stammering words. DM has a stunned look upon her face. The best man grins, and slaps FDH on the back. FDH just stands there grinning from ear to ear. He thinks he has pulled a good one. All at once a chill passes over us, the hair on the back of my neck stands up, FDH's smile is slowly drooping down to his knees Two steely blue gray eyes are looking at us, with, no! Not that, not the look! I have to explain something. My daddy was a gentle, kind loving man. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He laughed a lot. But when he was tired. When he was at the end of his rope. When he had just spent half a years wheat crop on a wedding. When he had been living with a hormonal wife, and a spoiled headstrong daughter, it was not a time for a joke such as that. And he gave us all the " Look." The look would stop a lion in his tracks. He never never spanked us kids. All he had to do was give the,"Look." We all cringed, our stomachs flipped, FDH broke out in a cold sweat. My knees started to knock. I thought about all the things he had shown my sister and I about hand to hand combat. He had been in Korea, and when my sister and I started dating, he showed us some moves. The one he really loved was how to poke peoples eyes out. That one always made me cringe. Would he come completely undone? Had he been pushed to the limit? Would the paper read the next day...." Grooms eyes poked out by postal Father?" We waited. The " Look" continued for a full 2 minutes. Then he spoke, we all strained to hear these words...." You better think again sonny." One thing that my daddy did take very seriously was his 2 daughters virtue. It was not a thing to poke fun at. FDH stammered out, " uh, didn't mean that the way it sounded, just kidding." DF stood there a minute, then grinned his most charming grin, turned and walked off. Daddy always loved the fact that he could make the men in his daughters lives just a little scared of him. Now time to all go home, and get some sleep. With all of us settled into our respective beds, alone, we were soon all dreaming of the upcoming day.




December the 30th 1983 dawned clear and cold. So cold it hurt to breath, but the sun the beautiful sun was shinning. Now you all know the tradition of the bride and groom not seeing each other the day of the wedding? Well we threw that tradition out the window. When the groom sleeps on the couch of the house the bride lives in, it just isn't practical. When all the water in the house is frozen and the bride and groom have to drive into town, just to take a bath, it just isn't practical. I can't honestly remember much about that day. It is all a blur. A big muddy blur. You see we lived on a dirt road. A dirt road that when muddy was a bad muddy dirt road. Now the road had been frozen for days. The temperature had never reached about freezing, thus the road stayed frozen. But on the morning of December the 30th the temperature decided to come up just a tad. The sun came out, and the road decided to thaw. Just enough to make it a muddy sloppy mess. Daddy owned an old GMC 4-wheel drive single cab pickup. It was his feeding, river crossing, muddy road driving rig. Not a good thing to haul a wedding dress around in. But haul it we did. Wrapped in numerous layers of plastic it made it to the church unscathed. Daddy ran the 4-wheel drive ferry back and forth to the church off and on all day. And finally it was time.


I dressed in the basement of the Church. Not a lot of heat down there, burr. DFH dressed in the pastors study. The time had come. The wedding march had begun. Daddy and I ascended the steps of the church, stepping over the now frozen icy muddy slush. He brought me to the entrance of the church, and there we stood awaiting our turn to walk down the isle.




I wish I could remember more about our wedding. I really do. But it is all a blur. The main thing I can remember is the preacher was so short, almost as short as I am, and you couldn't have possibly seen him. I kept wondering if people were wondering where this voice was coming from. And I also remember we had a full house. It seemed that everyone had been cooped up for so long that this was truly an event. But the best thing that I can remember is that the only thing that mattered was the man standing at the front, waiting on me. And before we knew it we were pronounced man and wife, and the cowboy kissed his bride.

Here we are 24 years ago. We were both 20 years old.

I like this picture of DH, he looks so young!

Guess what? He was!

Quick hug before the reception






















Getting hitched.

I love you Daddy

Wedding Party

Dh, Dm and I. DM did a great job. I think she has missed her calling, she needs to become a wedding planner.

Cutting the cake.

Guess who?

Goodbye! On to the honeymoon!

I hope you have enjoyed this stroll down memory lane.
God Bless and Happy trails,
Ranch Wife