A SATURDAY WEDDING

Saturday, Milton conducted a wedding. The groom is the grandson of a parishioner. As always, it was very touching to me to sit there and watch Milton read the vows to a naive-about-marriage, head-over-heels-in-love couple.

For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, in health...

Man, they don't have a clue!

None of us did!

One standard feature of the ceremonies he performs comes near the end and always brings loads of laughter from the audience. He asks the groom to repeat the most important thing he'll ever come to learn (WINK!): "Happy wife...happy life!"

Milton requires the couples he marries to go through premarital counseling. He gives them tips and advice and information, and then books on marriage including The Act of Marriage by Tim LaHaye and Intended for Pleasure by Dr. Ed Wheat. He's currently counseling two more couples.

This couple's wedding was beautiful, sweet, tender: The stained-glassed military chapel was quaint and pretty. The bride was glowing. The groom cried as the bride walked down the aisle. The six or seven bridesmaids looked pretty in their blue gowns. The formal reception at the officers' club overlooked the river. Looking out the wall of glass, I saw swaying-in-the-breeze oak trees bedecked with moss, a fitting frame for the huge sailboats lined up in the harbor (before darkness fell). The food was delish, and we met new people, a regular happening when we attend weddings and receptions.

Ah, weddings!