32 years ago today I was born. Yay, me! But this blog isn’t about me, it’s about my Mom and our first wedding together. My mom is a total Rock Star. Seriously, she found out she was pregnant with me when she was 20′ up in a tree hanging a rope swing for my older siblings. She got dizzy up there and since she never got dizzy climbing trees, she figured something might be different. Pregnant, perchance? Yup. That didn’t end her tree climbing years though, she hung our rope swings until I was a teenager.
When I was born my Dad was the minister of a tiny, tiny Baptist Church in Galena, Missouri and my family lived in the Parsonage next door. February 13, 1980 brought a major snowstorm. Not so great since my dad was scheduled to marry a couple the next day on Valentine’s Day. In order to be able to open the church up for the wedding, my parents had to hand shovel the parking lot and the walk-way into the church. My Mother was 5’3″ and 38 weeks pregnant at this point but got the snow shovel and hit the 3′ of snow along side my Dad.
The storm was so bad that many people weren’t able to get out of their driveways in the Ozark Mountains to get to the church for the wedding. The pianist was one of them. The bride, groom, bridal party, family, and some guests were able to make it to the church though. My Mom kicked in to church lady roll and started lining the bridal party up to start the processional but then realized that they had no music to walk down the aisle to. Mom went around asking the guests that were there (probably all 20 of them) if anyone played the piano? One woman raised her hand and said that she “played a little“.
The impromptu pianist sat down at the piano and placed her hands dramatically on the keys. The first chords of the Wedding March filled the church: bum! bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-buuuuuum! My mom thought to herself as she started sending bridesmaids down the aisle “A little?! This is perfect! She knows the Wedding March!” Then the the pianist shifted to a lower chord and played: bum! bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-buuuuuum! Then she switched back to the first key she played and went: bum! bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-buuuuuum! Back and forth and back and forth. My mom sent all of the bridesmaids and bride down the aisle to the same two chords being played on the piano and by the time the bride got to the front of the church, the guests were rolling with laughter!
That was my first wedding, so I guess you could say I’ve been coordinating weddings since birth.
On February 24, 1980 my Mother delivered me in a family clinic, natural birth, of course, because she is a total Rock Star.
I love you mom.
(Editor’s Note: I originally wrote this blog and used the term Bad Ass instead of Rock Star, but then I kept hearing my Dad’s voice conscience say “I think it’s a little inappropriate to call your Mother a Bad Ass, Amber“. So yeah, Dad conscience, you’re right. Totally inappropriate.)
