Matie & Henry
It was decided. After sixty years of marriage Mattie
and Henry had earned a celebration. An anniversary party would be a chance
for them to get together with all the children, grand children, great grand
children, ex-wives, and husbands, and others. Besides, Mattie and Henry
were getting older and only God knows if they would make another gathering.
Katherine the eldest daughter had been through three husbands and managed
to keep the kids each time, hers and her husbands. A great fan of permanence,
she thought it would be wonderful if Mom and Dad renewed their vows. However,
when she brought it up, Mattie cried and ran from the room. Henry choked
down a laugh. Katherine was perplexed. She had expected an argument, but
not her mother's tears. Her father wasn't any help. He chuckled again and
said, "We won't be renewing our vows!" More laughter bubbled to the surface.
"Why not?" "You'll have to ask your mother and I don't think she'll tell
you." Dad got serious; "If you do ask, she's going to be upset." Katherine
was ready for arguments about embarrassment, and her father's "We were
married once and that should be enough." But, she wasn't ready for tears
and laughter.
Not wanting to upset her mother, Katherine called
Mary, her youngest sister. The after thought, she was the last to leave
home. More to the point for Katherine, Mary had enjoyed talking with her
mother about Uncle Henry, Granny Adams and all the other odd and ordinary
family members. Mary might know why their mother broke down at the mention
of renewing her wedding vows.
When Mary heard what Katherine had done, she was
livid. "How could you?" "Why would you?" Katherine was getting ticked.
Lots of couples renewed their vows. If Matti and Henri didn’t want to a
simple "no" would have sufficed. Her sister looked at her quizzically.
"Don’t you know?" "Don’t I know what!" "I probably shouldn’t tell you if
Mom didn’t." With a wry smile Mary said, "Mom and Dad can’t renew their
vows, but they could get married."