10 years ago today

Heres a tale of two different kinds of days.

Ten years ago today Pat and I were married in Brampton.  It was around this time exactly that we were sitting in Gage Park getting our pictures taken as our wedding party munched on some fast food they got at a drive through on the way back from the church.

The sun was beginning to hide and the cool breeze started to flow as our photographer chirped at us “ok stay there…lets try this.”  Every pose it seemed that he was attempting us to get in didnt seem right and in between shots we held each other and smiled.  “THATS IT” hed say as we seemed much more natural when NOT posing and the photos were beautiful.  It was very calm and relaxing at that point, but several hours earlier, Pat’s day wasn’t going as smoothly.

The night before the wedding I stayed over at my good friend Mike Heenan’s house after being out the night before having a few drinks to calm the nerves and prepare for the next day.  We woke up in the morning and calmly headed downstairs to flick on the Ryder Cup golf tournament.  The smell of eggs and toast filled the air as we sat back with our feet up, watched a few holes of golf and waited for the rest of our wedding party to arrive.  Stress level zero.

Over at our house on Edenridge the totally opposite was happening.  My mother, aunt Betty (who’s birthday is the same day as our anniversary…Happy Birthday Aunt Betty!!) sister in law Deb and Pat’s half of the wedding party were running around getting their hair and make up done and doing what they can to keep everything under control.  Pat, as she always does, did her best to make sure everyone was taken care of so she made some sandwiches for everyone and kept them fed nicely as THEY were trying to do for her.

There were probably 20 or so people running around in different rooms, getting the tuxes on, making last minute changes to dresses and hair and on their make up.  Our niece Ashley and nephew Richard were in the wedding party as well, much younger than they are today and were a going concern to keep an eye on.

Just an FYI the Europeans were in the lead at the Ryder Cup as Mike turned to me and said “More coffee?”  Sure I replied as we refilled and stretched out on the chairs, in what I like to call a “golf haze”.

Needless to say, I still feel kind of guilty that my day wasnt as stressful as hers but we had 20 less people running around and only 3 people to dress.

The limo was there to pick up Pat and the wedding party as the last pictures were taken with her family in a now almost empty living room…all the furniture pushed up to the side to fit everyone, and they headed off to the church.

Mike, Satinder and my brother Rick were waiting anxiously at the church listening for the signal that the limo had arrived.  The minister was with us, trying to see if there was anything he could do to lessen the stress level, but there really wasnt any to relieve.  They were a little late and just as the minister said to us “ok, 3 more minutes and we head to the pub for a pint” the doorbell rang, signaling the arrival of the long white stretch limo containing the future Mrs Cluett.

We had a small contingent of close friends and family members at the church in Brampton as we all lined up front waiting for the music to begin.  A few of my friends looked over at me chuckling “you can run now if you like!” and the usual barbs you give to a nervous groom on his wedding day.  Ah, too late “here comes the bride!”  (Im kidding, I never would have thought of running, besides my knees were knocking too much to be able to run if I wanted.)

Pat took my breath away as she made her journey down the aisle of the church and the knocking of the knees stopped.  My brother even had to make sure I didnt fall over as I tried to catch my breath.

The service was beautiful and even though we missed the opportunity to say our own personal vows and it seemed like a blur until the minister said “you may now kiss the bride”.  Whoo hoo.

Our good friend Neil Sammut sang “When a Man Cries” a song he recorded in Nashville to a captive audience as we went to the back room to sign and make it all legal.  In between the pictures being taken Pat and I snuck around the corner to catch a glimpse of Neil singing as we wanted to be out there listening and watching him.

After talking with a few people today and getting the usual questions of “do you remember that day” my answer is like it was yesterday.

That was ten years ago.  Happy Anniversary Pat.  I love you even more now than I did then.