Sister of the groom
So my brother and his girlfriend got engaged this weekend. The consensus so far appears to be "What the hell took them so long?" To an extent, I guess I'm guilty of that myself; I wasn't in any particular rush for them to make it official, but I've been referring to her for a year or so as my common-law sister-in-law and finding it hilarious. But my brother is only 25, and they've only been back together for a couple of years.
When she called to tell me (not my brother, but that's not really out of character for him), my brother's fiancee said "You're going to have a sister!" Which I have to say was a little bizarre. I already think of her as my sister -- I have pretty much from one of the first times I met her, when she helped me change out of my wedding dress after the event and scolded me because I had inadvertently left the price tag in the damn thing. But the phrase -- maybe because I spent my childhood secretly hoping to hear it -- made me picture the baby sister I was always holding out for.
Anyway. My brother's getting married, and my family seems to be expecting much more of a reaction from me than I've so far displayed. I wasn't expecting it, but I'm not surprised, either, and I don't think I'm really given to jumping up and down and screaming. I'm having a hard time picturing my brother proposing. I've known him since he was born, for Christ's sake, and I didn't like him for a lot of that time. I like him now, of course, but I still have a hard time imagining that someone would want to marry him.
They got engaged late Friday night, told my parents on Saturday. I didn't find out until Sunday because I missed the call from my brother's fiancee and then figured if she wanted something, she would have left a message. By the time my mom knew I knew about the whole thing and could discuss it with me, she was already all worked up about how to approach the question of contributing money for the wedding, and getting all hyper and defensive in anticipation of the conversation. I can already see the beginnings of an us-versus-them battle in my mom's mind, and I really don't want to be on the "us" side. Maybe because I've been through it, and I can see both sides. Maybe because planning my own wedding was such a miserable ordeal, in part because my mom was so completely out of her mind that just talking to her raised my blood pressure, and I don't think I can stand to do it again. I may have to move back to St. Louis to avoid the drama.
My brother proposed while they were on vacation in Key West. Her family and friends all said that this trip would be when it happened; my mom and I said no way. When I laughed about that on the phone with my mom the other day, she got all melancholy and said "We don't really know him anymore." I think that's more than a little melodramatic, especially since my brother is much closer with our family than I ever expected him to be as a 25-year-old guy -- he's usually the one who arranges birthday dinners and baseball game outings for the six of us. I feel like I know him better than I ever expected to. Sometimes his fiancee will tell me things about him that surprise me, but why shouldn't she know him better?
The funny thing is that a lot of the things she tells me, I recognize in myself. Who knew we'd turn out so much alike?
When I got married, she told me that he cried during the ceremony. I didn't believe her. I believe her now, and I know that when he meets her at the end of the aisle next August, I'll be doing the same thing.
When she called to tell me (not my brother, but that's not really out of character for him), my brother's fiancee said "You're going to have a sister!" Which I have to say was a little bizarre. I already think of her as my sister -- I have pretty much from one of the first times I met her, when she helped me change out of my wedding dress after the event and scolded me because I had inadvertently left the price tag in the damn thing. But the phrase -- maybe because I spent my childhood secretly hoping to hear it -- made me picture the baby sister I was always holding out for.
Anyway. My brother's getting married, and my family seems to be expecting much more of a reaction from me than I've so far displayed. I wasn't expecting it, but I'm not surprised, either, and I don't think I'm really given to jumping up and down and screaming. I'm having a hard time picturing my brother proposing. I've known him since he was born, for Christ's sake, and I didn't like him for a lot of that time. I like him now, of course, but I still have a hard time imagining that someone would want to marry him.
They got engaged late Friday night, told my parents on Saturday. I didn't find out until Sunday because I missed the call from my brother's fiancee and then figured if she wanted something, she would have left a message. By the time my mom knew I knew about the whole thing and could discuss it with me, she was already all worked up about how to approach the question of contributing money for the wedding, and getting all hyper and defensive in anticipation of the conversation. I can already see the beginnings of an us-versus-them battle in my mom's mind, and I really don't want to be on the "us" side. Maybe because I've been through it, and I can see both sides. Maybe because planning my own wedding was such a miserable ordeal, in part because my mom was so completely out of her mind that just talking to her raised my blood pressure, and I don't think I can stand to do it again. I may have to move back to St. Louis to avoid the drama.
My brother proposed while they were on vacation in Key West. Her family and friends all said that this trip would be when it happened; my mom and I said no way. When I laughed about that on the phone with my mom the other day, she got all melancholy and said "We don't really know him anymore." I think that's more than a little melodramatic, especially since my brother is much closer with our family than I ever expected him to be as a 25-year-old guy -- he's usually the one who arranges birthday dinners and baseball game outings for the six of us. I feel like I know him better than I ever expected to. Sometimes his fiancee will tell me things about him that surprise me, but why shouldn't she know him better?
The funny thing is that a lot of the things she tells me, I recognize in myself. Who knew we'd turn out so much alike?
When I got married, she told me that he cried during the ceremony. I didn't believe her. I believe her now, and I know that when he meets her at the end of the aisle next August, I'll be doing the same thing.
posted by Madame Defarge at 11:08 AM
1 Comments:
Hold on. I'm looking out the window now to see if pigs are flying. =) Congratulations! You're going to be a sister again. =) And congratulations to Aaron as well. Maybe you can slip some prozac into your mother's morning coffee for the next 12 months.
Sigh. I'm feeling old now.
Post a Comment
<< Home