It was June of 1980, the sixteenth to be exact, and I'm sweating my ass off in this church. I'm in the backroom with my youngest sister, Cindy, and my other sister Jan's best friends, Donna and Gloria. We are the bridesmaids at Jan's wedding. We are all fanning ourselves off with are pink and yellow rose bouquets. The baby pink of the flowers match our dresses.
I can't take my eyes off Cindy. She grew up to be a beautiful young woman of twenty. She had long golden hair down to her breasts, her pink eye makeup made her big blue eyes sparkle like the ocean, and her skin was a nice, healthy tan.
"Jan, are you almost out?" Cindy asks, snapping me out of my trance.
"I'm coming out in two seconds," Jan replies back to her. Well, she must have perfect timing because before I knew it, there she was. She looked like the perfect bride. Her hair was up in a loose, feminine bun, her makeup was delicate, enough to compliment her natural beauty. Her dress was a simple white lace with short sleeves. It was loose enough to hide one of the reasons for this day: she was pregnant.
"You are so beautiful," I say going up to her and giving her a hug.
"Thanks, Marcia. You look beautiful, too," she says giving me a hug back. This moment feels so special. I love my sister so much. Yet I let her go so Cindy, Donna and Gloria can hug her before we walk down the aisles.
"Can I come in?"
It was dad knocking on the door. Oh, I was so excited for him to see Jan. I know he's going to fall to pieces when her sees her.
"Yes, come in, Daddy."
He walks through the door and stops in his tracks when he spots Jan. His eyes well up with tears. It's not long before Cindy and I start crying. He walks up to Jan, takes her face in his hands and kisses her on the forehead.
"Ready?" He asks not taking his hands off her face.
"Ready," Jan replies wrapping her arms around Dad.
The music begins to start and all of us girls shuffle into place. Greg is paired up with me to go down the aisle as members of the wedding party. Peter is paired with Gloria, Donna is paired with the groom's brother, Jim and lastly Cindy and Bobby.
"Here we go," I say to Greg, taking his arm.
"How does Jan look?"
"Beautiful."
I barely had time to answer before we had to start walking. I look straight ahead until I reach the front pew where I see mom and Alice crying like babies. I used to make fun of these women who would cry for hours over a wedding, I shouldn't of, because now I turned into one. Especially seeing other people crying at this, it immeadiatley gets me going. I look over to see that Cindy can't control her tears either.
Then Jan and Dad arrive keeping in beat with the music. The guests stand to honor the bride. I glance over to the groom, David Harris, who is absolutley stunned. I always thought he was a good looking man but not as good looking as he was when he saw my sister in her wedding gown for the first time. I guess I was seeing his insides more than observing the outside. He did have the same nice smile though. His dark hair was perfectly groomed and he looked like such a gentleman in his tuxedo.
"Who gives this woman to be wed to this man?" The minister asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"I do," my father replies, kissing my sister's cheek one last time before giving her hand to David. I watch him walk to the pew where Mom and Alice were sitting and hugging both of them.
It was so surreal watching this all play out. You think of these things but you never really think they will happen. My sister saying vows of commitment, love, and life to her man and her man saying them back to her. The rings delicately being placed on one another's fingers and a golden kiss to seal their fate. It was all over before I knew it.
"For the first time, Mr. and Mrs. David Harris!" exclaimed the minister amongst the applause for the newlyweds.
He can speak for himself. She will always be Jan Brady to me. My little sister.