Wedding Bell Blues

Guess where Peter and I went on Saturday night? Nowhere! Now it’s true that we are old and often go nowhere on a Saturday night. But this past Saturday was supposed to be different.

Way back in the “before times” 2020, we were invited to an April wedding – Peter’s nephew. We were really looking forward to a night of spending time with family, eating delicious food, and maybe even dancing, (if I could find comfortable shoes). Well, you know how those plans went. The wedding was postponed to October 2020 and then April 2021.

The poor couple were beside themselves. They wanted to get on with their married lives. So they decided to hold the church wedding last April, with limited family guests, and then postpone the reception till this April – 2022. The church serviced last year was lovely, although the priest warned us in no uncertain terms to go directly to our cars after the service – no chatting, and definitely no hugging. Since then the bride and groom have settled into their new lives together and even had…you guessed it…a baby!

And that brings us to now – April 2022. At the end of March I went shopping for a new dress. I found appropriate jewellery and put some stretchers in my fancy shoes. I booked my hair appointment for the day before the wedding. As I drove home with my new hair do, I fantasized about being at a party where somebody else cooked the food, socializing with family members we have hardly seen in 2 years, and meeting baby Sofia.

When I got home and prepared to show off my new hair “look,” Peter was sitting in his chair with his new “forlorn” look and a thermometer in his mouth. Oh No! I got out the unused rapid antigen tests and began to read the instructions. It took a little while to assemble all the bits and pieces. Then came the nose swabbing and sneezing. Finally the results – positive!

Aggghhh! So what to do now? We called Pete’s doctor and got the instructions: isolate for 5 days and then take another test. If negative, then resume your regular life. As for the wife – isolate too and try to stay away from Peter – easier said than done in a 3-bedroom bungalow. We quickly became territorial. Who gets the upstairs bathroom and who has to go to the basement? Who gets to sleep in the master bedroom and who gets the couch in the sunroom? Who gets the big TV and who makes do with the little one? The sick person definitely has more bargaining power.

The next hurdle was calling the parents of the bride and groom to tell them our sad news. Imagine our surprise when they said that 2 other uncles had Covid too. The mother quipped: “By the end of the wedding we might All have Covid!” And maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Three vaccines plus a dose of the real thing surely means total immunity, right?

Peter spent a few days feeling sick with a cough and a sore throat, but today he is doing better. He plans to test himself again today to see if it is safe to resume his life. As for me, I am still OK. Maybe all that hiding in the sunroom worked.

Meanwhile we wish the bride and groom a wonderful life together. They deserve it after going through all those wedding delays. And if you know anyone who wants to borrow a brand new dress, suitable for a lady of a certain age to wear to a wedding, let me know.

Sue