Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Unhappy Bride

I remember the first time I saw my parent's wedding pictures. I can't remember how old I was, maybe 7? I do recall feeling let down that my mother looked so unhappy in the pictures. Well, that, and she wasn't wearing a traditional white wedding dress. She was dressed in a blue dress with layers of ruffles on the skirt. Dad was smiling, and the wedding was just one of those little country style weddings that they could afford at the time. They were married July 10, 1948 when they were both just 20 years old, and my mother was most likely a virgin.

Six out of eight of Dad's sisters had shot gun weddings - married just months before giving birth to their first children. When my mother gave birth to my older brother after 8 months and 8 days of marriage, everyone counted on their fingers, but my mother insisted Larry was a premie. I don't doubt that he was a little early, and I don't think my parents fooled around before they got married. If they did, hey, it really won't matter much to me. Sex was one of the only things they enjoyed about each other.

I remember asking my mother why she looked so unhappy, but I don't think I got a definitive answer. After I recently thought about this, I realized that she doesn't take a good picture. I don't think she really knows how to pose well, and she's not too camera friendly. She has also been know to tear up pictures that she thinks look bad of her, which is almost all of them.

I did come across a picture that she happened to like recently, and it's not one that I like - it's really rather creepy, as a matter of fact. She is wearing a stupid black wig that is not sitting on her head right and too much makeup.

I think one of the main things is that she is not happy most of the time, so how can she take a good picture?

Well, I had the flu after taking a flu shot at the doctor's office. Next year, there is no way I am taking a flu shot. I just don't want to get that sick again. I'll take my chances on getting the flu, which almost never happens to me. That is, unless there is a new threat with something like the bird flu.