Wedding Bells
Oct. 22nd, 2014 04:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3No, not for me, but for an old friend. It's the first time I've ever seen someone married twice - twenty or so years apart.
Jackie was one of the first people I met at University, and a fast friend since then. We were part of a group of six who weathered love affairs and exams , debating and discos, coming out and going out. Someone should have made a TV series out of it.
Anyway, over the 33 years since then, the group of six has become a group of three. Andrew married Grace, and they had um, some kids. Three I think. Could be 2, could be 4. They jumped on the property ladder before the rest of us, Grace became a housewife and Andrew a judge. The last time I was in touch was 15 years ago, when Andrew did the conveyancing for my cottage.
Ken, after collecting his double first in Law and English, went off to London, with his newly minted degreee and newly confident sexuality. Last heard of perched on scaffolding watching the poll tax riots, tucking into strawberries and champagne. I think he was born again, in the best sense, when he got to London, and I wish him well. I never sit through Rocky Horror without thinking of him.
Kay and I got together as a couple after we finished our degrees, and had seven good years together. First person I shared a flat with, and a mortgage, and a joint account. We parted in 1992, and we've stayed good friends over the years, getting much closer again when I moved back to Glasgow.
Jackie was the single one. She was beautiful, and clever, and kind, and as viciously funny as Dorothy Parker with a Borders accent. I always see her in a flapper dress and drop earings, a glass of fizzy in hand, and a bon mot on the tip of her tongue. She debated for the University, and was in with the law and politics set.
After University she followed the work to London, and fell in love with her flatmate. I was at their wedding in Dumfries, as were the other 5, and I was delighted when she moved to Edinburgh with her new husband. I liked him - he'd been in the paras, he seemed kind, he obviously worshipped her. They moved to her home town of Dumfries when the first baby was born, and I didn't see much of them after the second was born.
So I missed out on the period where he turned out not to be so kind, and they divorced under pretty bad circumstances.
We saw each other once or twice a year after I divorced (geography was the biggest blocker) and I was happy when she took up with another And happier, a few years later, when she took up with Andrew (not that Andrew) who seemed clever and kind (I'm not qualified to comment on his beauty, but she seems happy enough).
A brief seven or so years later, they got married last weekend, in Dumfries. Though thankfully at another church. There were 0nly 25 guests, and three of them were me, Kay, and James, her partner of the past twenty years.
I enjoyed myself. There were a couple of funny moments - I managed not to mention that the last time I'd been in Dumfries was for her last wedding, and let James explain to the relatives that he was Kay's partner, not me.
We ate well, we talked a lot, we drank a remarkably modest amount.
Best of all, we sat with Mr and Mrs Ward after the rest of the guests had gone, and talked long into the night. I was able to tell Jackie that I'd once found her beautiful, and kind, and clever, and what a delight it was to find her just as beautiful, wise as well as clever, and more kind than ever.
They're in Venice now. I got a note from her saying that the honeymoon was going swimmingly.
Jackie was one of the first people I met at University, and a fast friend since then. We were part of a group of six who weathered love affairs and exams , debating and discos, coming out and going out. Someone should have made a TV series out of it.
Anyway, over the 33 years since then, the group of six has become a group of three. Andrew married Grace, and they had um, some kids. Three I think. Could be 2, could be 4. They jumped on the property ladder before the rest of us, Grace became a housewife and Andrew a judge. The last time I was in touch was 15 years ago, when Andrew did the conveyancing for my cottage.
Ken, after collecting his double first in Law and English, went off to London, with his newly minted degreee and newly confident sexuality. Last heard of perched on scaffolding watching the poll tax riots, tucking into strawberries and champagne. I think he was born again, in the best sense, when he got to London, and I wish him well. I never sit through Rocky Horror without thinking of him.
Kay and I got together as a couple after we finished our degrees, and had seven good years together. First person I shared a flat with, and a mortgage, and a joint account. We parted in 1992, and we've stayed good friends over the years, getting much closer again when I moved back to Glasgow.
Jackie was the single one. She was beautiful, and clever, and kind, and as viciously funny as Dorothy Parker with a Borders accent. I always see her in a flapper dress and drop earings, a glass of fizzy in hand, and a bon mot on the tip of her tongue. She debated for the University, and was in with the law and politics set.
After University she followed the work to London, and fell in love with her flatmate. I was at their wedding in Dumfries, as were the other 5, and I was delighted when she moved to Edinburgh with her new husband. I liked him - he'd been in the paras, he seemed kind, he obviously worshipped her. They moved to her home town of Dumfries when the first baby was born, and I didn't see much of them after the second was born.
So I missed out on the period where he turned out not to be so kind, and they divorced under pretty bad circumstances.
We saw each other once or twice a year after I divorced (geography was the biggest blocker) and I was happy when she took up with another And happier, a few years later, when she took up with Andrew (not that Andrew) who seemed clever and kind (I'm not qualified to comment on his beauty, but she seems happy enough).
A brief seven or so years later, they got married last weekend, in Dumfries. Though thankfully at another church. There were 0nly 25 guests, and three of them were me, Kay, and James, her partner of the past twenty years.
I enjoyed myself. There were a couple of funny moments - I managed not to mention that the last time I'd been in Dumfries was for her last wedding, and let James explain to the relatives that he was Kay's partner, not me.
We ate well, we talked a lot, we drank a remarkably modest amount.
Best of all, we sat with Mr and Mrs Ward after the rest of the guests had gone, and talked long into the night. I was able to tell Jackie that I'd once found her beautiful, and kind, and clever, and what a delight it was to find her just as beautiful, wise as well as clever, and more kind than ever.
They're in Venice now. I got a note from her saying that the honeymoon was going swimmingly.
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no subject
Date: 2014-10-22 06:31 pm (UTC)So glad the next chapter was so warm and joyful.
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2014-10-24 10:29 am (UTC)Sometimes there's just no way to bridge gaps, and I have to accept that, but when there is it can be great.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-23 07:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-24 10:30 am (UTC)Though I was surprised to find out that it was Clive James, not Curtis, who wrong Peter's Friends.
no subject
Date: 2014-10-24 12:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-10-24 10:30 am (UTC)