About That Wedding

A faithful reader reminded me that I had said very little about the wedding, the real purpose of our recent trip to Detroit. I was waiting to get a photo from my husband’s iPhone first.

Our niece Melissa has to be one of the nicest kids on the face of the earth. (I call her a kid, but she is actually 33 years old.) She and her sister spent a lot of time with their grandparents, growing up in an adjoining suburb. They got to experience the best years of their grandfather’s life after he retired and learned the patience that he never had with his own children.

Melissa was a regular visitor of her grandparents, after he had a stroke and she broke bone after bone. She helped empty out the apartment when her grandmother moved into the assisted living home.

Her husband Darren is just as devoted. The afternoon of the wedding, where was he? Visiting Zelda and Diane at Regent Street.

It actually took a while for the older generation of this Jewish family to accept the fact that the girls (as they call our nieces) might not marry someone who was Jewish. But gradually they came to see that love and devotion were much more important than religion in the long run.

Despite the fact that Darren is not Jewish, the wedding ceremony took place under a traditional canopy (chuppah) and was officiated by a lovely female rabbi, who obviously had gotten to know the bride and groom quite well. She said the seven blessings, they broke the glass, and they signed the marriage contract (ketubah). They recited the vows, repeating the ancient Hebrew phrases after the rabbi. It had all the necessary elements of a Jewish wedding.

The rabbi even tied in the week’s torah portion, talking about how Jacob met Rebecca, his bride to be, at the well. It was a beautiful ceremony, witnessed by Diane and Zelda in the front row holding hands throughout.

I somewhat expected the old folks to be ready for bed at 8:00 after the ceremony. But they seemed to find a reserve of energy to join the party afterwards. It was not until 11:00 that we convinced them to go home to sleep.

I’m sure both Zelda and Diane have dreamed about Melissa’s wedding ever since Saturday night. However, they have already turned their attention to my Rachel, telling her not to wait too long to find someone and settle down. I guess that’s part of the job description of the older generation!