Hey little sister, what have you done...
Billy Idol's White Wedding came on the car radio the other day and I turned it up as I've always done. For my own wedding I requested this be the first song played as our reception began. I wanted to open the night to my friends in a way that suggested that just because we were now married, it didn't mean we were automatically stodgy. After I thought of that moment at my wedding, I imagined Harrison singing the song at Gigi's wedding (apparently Idol wrote the song for his own sister).
In my fantasy we are at the reception and it is late in the evening. The older guests have retired home or to their hotel rooms, so the youngsters are left to dance the night away.
Harrison is in his smart black tux, top two buttons opened on his crisp white shirt, bowtie torn off hours before. He has control of the mike again (he made a toast earlier, then handed it off to others, including Gigi's girlfriends who teased her about her past boyfriends, much to the dismay of the groom). The DJ has a special karaoke copy of White Wedding for Harrison to belt away, which he does with champagne gusto.
Gigi dances with her bridesmaids on the dance floor, tulle flying and chignons unraveling everywhere. She's grinning at her brother in wild amusement. They've put on so many family shows together as children that this is just another naturally nostalgic moment for the both of them.
Robin and I, in our own wedding costumes, are of course laughing hysterically because Harrison is behaving exactly as Robin did some 30 years earlier.
It's nice to look forward to things this weekend, or this summer, or next year. But there's also a comforting excitement in anticipating the far off future because it makes you feel young today. In thirty years I'll be 65 (which by then may be the new 35 anyway). I want to make it there and I want to be dancing. White wedding or not.
posted by Anne at 2:05 PM
3 Comments:
If you wish I could show up at your house and sing this for you. it won't be quite the same, but it will entertain nonetheless.
:)
I haven't heard that song in such a long time.
That's a sweet fantasy. I wonder if you'll remember having it as you sit there 30 years from now?
Two little birdies told me that it was your birthday. Being of the opinion that women become vastly more interesting and even still more beautiful at age 36, I'd say it is yet another thing to which you might look forward.
(Good grief, I hope that didn't sound like a backhanded compliment.) Happy Birthday.
-R.
lynchseattle: That would indeed be very entertaining.
R: Thank you for the birthday wishes and kind words on aging. This birthday in particular was one I looked forward to and wanted to celebrate. I agree that women get more interesting with age and 35 seems like a time to begin that process and at the same time release a bit of the anxiety associated with keeping up appearances. Not that I'm all of a sudden giving up sit-ups or hair color (ever), but I think this is an age where priorities shift and hopefully confidence builds. Now I'm just babbling.
Anyway, thanks. :-)
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