Wedding Song

When my husband and I were getting married and determining which costs it made sense to shell out for (as we were paying for our wedding ourselves), I had to use my lawyerly debate skills to convince him that a video of our wedding would be worth the cost.  I told him then that our (as yet unborn) kids could watch the video someday, and that reasoning did the trick.

When my daughter was young, she repaid us by watching our wedding video A LOT.  I remember her bringing it on an airplane once when we were traveling and watching it on a tiny pink portable DVD player (which is what we used on long flights before iPads were invented).  As someone walked up the aisle of the plane and caught a glimpse of what she was doing, they turned to me and asked, incredulous, “Is she watching your wedding video?!”  

“Yes,” I answered blushing, some combination of pride and embarrassment spreading across my face.  

But, deep down I loved it.  She could see all our friends and relatives at our wedding.  See me as I walked down the aisle, both laughing and crying, which is has become something of a signature move of mine over the years.  

When my son came along and watched it with her, his first reaction was, “Look, Mommy!  You are a princess!  And you have a tail!”  (I guess the train of my wedding dress seemed more like a tail to his two year old eyes, and I loved that too.)  More use out of our wedding video!  (What a great investment, huh?)

Well, we’ve moved a bunch over the years, and I no longer have a copy of that DVD.  But it doesn’t really matter, because we don’t have a DVD player anymore (and I know my in-laws still have a copy of the video, so it’s not totally lost).  But it’s been a few years since my kids have watched that video.

But last night I was playing the piano, practicing Canon in D, by Pachelbel, which is one of my favorite songs.  My daughter came up and sat on the couch near me, which is something I’ve noticed often happens when I play the piano.  She listened for a few minutes and then said, “Mommy, that’s your wedding song!”

She was right.  A string quartet played it as I walked down the aisle on that slightly overcast spring day; tears, laughter, and all.  

I couldn’t believe that she remembered.  As I say, it’s been years.  But also, Gabby has special needs, and so much that comes easy to other children is more of a challenge to her.  But, I swear, in so many of the things that matter, she seems to just hit the nail on the head.  If you meet her, she’ll remember your name forever.  She’ll ask your middle name and favorite color, and will likely remember those too.  She’ll notice if you seem sad and will try to comfort you.  And, apparently, she’ll remember your wedding song if she’s watched your wedding on DVD.  And I dare you not to love her for all of that.