It's simple really.
Be a teenager in love. Dress your stubbornness in a white dress. March yourself down an aisle.
Oh my poor parents. God bless them for not throwing a fit.
I was a girl who {thought I} knew what I wanted and that meant marrying the boy who handed me Phillipians 1:3 while I was wearing saggy old man Adidas track pants. You don't come back from that. The deal was sealed before we'd even had our first kiss.
I was 18. Eighteen! I knew nothing about the world or about love or about how to cook chicken. I was completely gaga for this boy who looked like John Lennon and played Skydiggers on the guitar and grinned at me while I sang harmony against his melody.
A child bride doesn't care about the little things {like the decoupaged pop bottle bottoms that became candy dishes on the reception table}. I cared about my dress and I cared that I had a center aisle to walk down. The rest didn't matter.
It would be so different if I was doing it today. Today, with Pinterest and digital photography and bridesmaids that are no longer children themselves.
It took me an hour yesterday to find our wedding photos - tucked back in a dusty corner. They are not good pictures. They are a huge regret. But it was 1998 - people had little 110 cameras. {I would consider a vow renewal ceremony now just for the photos.}
But the message that pours out from those old pages is one of forever - that we knew and believed and promised and vowed that we meant everything that day stood for - and you could see it all over our faces.
I have regrets about our wedding day.
He is not one of them.
Somehow we've navigated the inevitable ups and downs and now, sixteen years later, I still choose him as my life partner.
So, the question isn't 'How To Be A Child Bride'. It should be 'How To Be A Child Wife.'
But perhaps that's a story for another time...
p.s. Today was my first day blogging from my new writing room. I'll be showing it off soon!!
p.p.s. Thrift Blitz goes live on Monday - be ready to link up your super great finds!
I didn't know he used a Bible verse as a pickup line! That's wonderfully cheesy.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah...perhaps a future post should be 'How To Trick A Naive Christian Into Being Your Girlfriend' Not that he tricked me...but I think it was kind of a move...wonderfully cheesy though it may have been ;)
DeleteDo it! I had a guy tell me once that God told him to date Christian people. It didn't work, but it was a funny line.
DeleteI really liked your article. Photos are great for her. They are very delicate and beautiful.
ReplyDelete