The Wedding

The Wedding

         I stood tall and proud in my military dress uniform, medals shining almost as much as my smile. Stock still, like a board. The discipline from my previous years kicking in once again as I did. My outside looked stoic and proud, but beneath that, it felt like the butterflies people normally got when nervous were twisting my insides into knots as I patiently awaited her arrival.

      To my left stood my 3 closest friends and my brother. They were happy for me. They knew I had been waiting a long time for this.
Ever since I was a young man in my late teens, all I had truly wanted in my life was a family of my own I could love, care for, and protect unconditionally. After years of heartbreak in a failed search for my other half in this world, I had finally found the one who would fill the hole in my heart I had for years.

      She came to me unexpectedly. It wasn’t like it was in movies where you meet some random stranger in a bar or in a club and you fall in love. It was more pure than that. The irony never escaped me at how it happened. After searching many countries all over the world, in all my travels, it turns out that the one for me was in a place I had given up looking. Back home.

    We were friends for many years. We just never realized the feelings we had for each other. Or maybe we did, but we just didn’t want to try in fear of ruining our friendship. I’ll never forget the day the feeling hit me like a freight train.

*FLASHBACK*

    It was the previous time I was home on leave. My girlfriend at the time had cheated on me and I was doing the usual thing I did when that happened. Now that I think about it, it’s terrible to think that was a usual thing for me. I had reached the brink of completely changing myself into the arrogant asshole that I had seen in my life always win over me.

    ‘Just for once’, I had thought to myself ‘I want to win’

    It was then that I had slammed my payment to the bartender on the table and stumbled out of the building. I knew that public intoxication was illegal, but I didn’t care. In my drunken stumbling, I had ended up in front of the Ramseur place. This is when I saw my friend, my now fiancé, clothed in her workout sweats, crying on her porch swing.

    I was immediately concerned, so I carefully trudged up the steps, trying not to show my level of drunkenness. I failed miserably as I fell back down after the fifth step.

    She had jumped out of the swing in fright, until noticing it was me, which then she had helped me up. To which I expressed my thanks.

    “Thanksh Emily”, I slurred.

    “Jon… What are you doing here?” she asked concerned, sniffing her nose. “Are you drunk?”

    “I am here because I was trying to get home and I heard you… uhh… crying so I was coming to see what was wron’. As for whether I am drunk or not, I am VERY.”

    “Here, let’s get you inside, you big idiot” she had said, smiling a little.

    “Idiot huh? Thatsh funny coming from the one who thought Keanu Reeves was the star of the Matrixsh!

    “Keanu Reeves WAS the star of the Matrix!”

    “No he… oh… wait….” I stammered

    She laughed hysterically at this as we stepped through the doorway into the house. I knew that I was wrong, but I also knew this would make her laugh, which is one thing I was good at.

    Anyways, long story short. We talked for many hours that night. I began to notice her growing more beautiful as I sobered up (which was very ironic). There was a quiet moment, where we had started out with a deep kiss. We made love that night. It was the best night of my life. After a year of dating, I got on one knee, dressed in my military dress uniform, and asked her to marry me.
She had said yes, with that beautiful smile that I loved, and tears falling down her face. Everyone around us had clapped and cheered. It was like a dream for the both of us.

*FLASHBACK OVER*

    And now here we were, the wedding day where I would make her my wife, and the first step to achieving my… OUR dream of having a family of our own.

    She was beautiful, as usual, walking down the aisle with her father, whose eyes were full of pride, and a hint of not wanting to let her go. I knew one day I would understand the look in his eyes, but for now, I focused on the present.

    “Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

    “I do.” she said.

    “And do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

    “I do.”