Wedding Morning Part 3(Bride's view)

Where could he be?! Peter was suppose to be at the church an hour ago. Why wasn't he here already?! Mary was pacing in the bridal room thinking of all of the possible reasons why he wasn't here yet. Maybe he was stuck in traffic, or maybe his doctor's appointment ran late. Or maybe he had just up and decided he didn't want to be married and bought a one-way plane ticket to Ireland. Yeah stuck in traffic seemed a lot more logical. "Oh Val!What am I gonna do?! Peter isn't here and we're suppose to start in thirty minutes" Valerie wrapped her arms around Mary and tried her best to console her. Not only had Valerie been the best maid of honor a girl could ask for, she had been her best friend since the third grade. There was no one she would have wanted by her side today more than her. Other than her parents and Peter of course, if he decided to make an appearance at their wedding! Valerie pulled back from Mary, wiping Mary's tears. "Don't worry about a thing! He'll show up, he's crazy about you" "Yeah you're right, he'll be here" she said. She sauntered over to the full-length mirror and started retouching her make-up. She knew she should have just let him put off that doctor's appointment until after the wedding and honeymoon. What difference would a few days make? She had just been so worried about him lately. He had been having migraines for the past couple of weeks and most recently black-outs. He had been putting it off and putting it off for way too long, and this was the only time Dr.Foreman had available before the wedding. She would rather him be late she guessed than have him put it off any longer. In came her Father. "He's here and dressed! You ready?" She turned from the mirror and took a deep breath. "Always." She walked to her Father, he kissed her forehead and lowered her veil. How stupid it was to get so worked up about that. Peter was finally here, and they were going to be just fine. As long as they had each other nothing could be that bad.

Wedding Morning Part 2(Groom's view)

Peter was patiently sitting in the lobby. It was quite quaint for a doctor's office, and even with it's tranquil nature it was still too idyllic for what it was. He had been feeling rather lethargic the last couple of weeks so Mary suggested he see his doctor. He had resisted at first thinking it was all just balderdash, but Mary was very persuasive. That was one of the things he liked most about her. She was his refuge, his solace. He met her at freshman orientation, the girl with rosy cheeks and a flower in her hair. At first the relationship was purely platonic, but it had developed into something so much more. He finally had something tangible to love. You see his parents kicked him out at sixteen, fed up with his incessant partying, drinking, bad grades, and run-ins with the law. If it wasn't for his Aunt Grace who took him in and straightened him out he'd be nowhere. His parents still wouldn't speak to him. For a long time he'd send them letters, but after about sixty letters had been sent back with "return to sender" marked on them he just gave up. So Aunt Grace was the only family he had left, that was until he met Mary. Being with Mary was like coming home. One time they were sitting on the sofa watching Friday Night Lights, her head was on his shoulder and his arm was wrapped around her. And suddenly he had an epiphany! She was the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. So he asked her to marry him and she said yes. And here he was nine months later, day of his wedding waiting in the doctor's office. There came Dr.Foreman calling him back for his appointment. He got up and walked to where he held open the door, not knowing why he had such a bad feeling. After all it couldn't be anything serious.

Wedding Morning Part 1(Bride's view)

It was the morning of Mary's wedding. She was sitting at her ornate vanity, reminiscing of past times with Peter. There was the time they had gone to the park. They fed the ducks, walked through the woods, ate by the pond, and talked of the future. He could empathize with her like no other guy had before. All the other guys she had dated were too busy with their male bravado, not Peter though. He was gregarious and in no ways mundane. Too many guys before had transgressed and she was always left feeling hurt. After them she decided she was done having her heart broken, so she emancipated herself from men, vowing to stay single. But Peter with his philanthropic ways won her over and changed her mind. She had never felt such felicity. She wasn't sure how she had abided the long nine months it took to plan the wedding, if she had known it would take this long to plan she would have eloped. She had even suggested it to Peter but he thought it irreverent. She looked down at her cat laying on her creme colored rug. The cat was almost feral seeing as it had been staying out all night, almost every night. Poor thing had been so languid the past couple of days, she could probably sense things were going to change. You see Peter loved animals but he was allergic to cats so Mary's cat was staying with her parents. She would miss her cat and her parents, she would still see them once in a while but it just wouldn't be the same. She looked around her room, trying to remember everything as it was right then. She walked over to her window where her passe lace curtains hung. As she reached to open the window she saw her father walking to the edge of the drive-way in his robe getting the paper. Ever since he retired he had been growing more and more indolent. It had been hard on him with no one really to talk to anymore, seeing as Mama's cognition wasn't what it used to be. I tried to talk to him but he wouldn't talk to me. I closed the window and pulled the curtains and decided to go make myself coffee and start the first day of the rest of my life with Peter.

Places in my mind

I want to go to the places in my mind
The places that have been changed by time
To the house all covered in vines
And the letters bound with twine

I want to go to the places in my mind
When I was young and you were mine
Oh how far away it seems
That summer, that feeling, our dreams

I want to go to the places in my mind
To the boy who's hand fit in mine
And as I lie awake in my bed
I wonder if my voice fills his head

I want to go to the places in my mind
The places that have been changed by time

by Robyn Ivy Proctor

(written Thursday July 1st 2010)

The inspiration for this was something my mother said one night riding around in Carytown( it's kinda a tradition in my family, we get coffee and pastries from Starbucks and drive by the different shops, we've done it for as long as I can remember). She was talking about how she wanted to go to the places in her mind, old memories she had of her childhood and when her and Dad were first married. Well when she said that it all just flowed through my mind and when I got home I found a notebook and pen and wrote it all down, knowing I would forget it if I didn't do it then. It's not really about just one memory in my mind, or anyone one person, but just a feeling of wanting to go back to the memories that we all cherish. Maybe we can't physically go back to those days, but I think we can all find a bit of our past in our present lives. Like William Faulkner said "The past is never dead, it's not even the past"