“Are you ready? You are always so sloooow!” shouts Kitty through the bathroom door “The rest of us need to get ready too. You need to leave some hot water. It’s not fair that you take it all!”
“Stop yelling. She can hear you” advises Liz walking up the stairs hoping to help her sisters compromise and find a solution to sharing “Lydia is just choosing to ignore you”.
Through the bathroom door Lydia’s voice rings out “I am not! I’m not done yet” sticking her head through the crack in the door “She’ll have to WAIT her turn!” slamming the door again as it echoes through the hallway.
“I wish that I lived with Jane and you. It would be so much easier. I wouldn’t have to put up with Lydia’s selfishness or Mary’s moaning all the time!” yells Kitty while stomping off to her bedroom and slamming the door.
Liz heads downstairs to find something to do other than listening to her younger sister’s argue. It was Jane’s brilliant idea that they should ride together in her parent’s minivan so they could all go to the wedding as a family. Right now it reminds her of being grounded as a child and punished for something that she did wrong, however, she can’t figure out what that possibly could have been to deserve this.
Some peaceful music radiates throughout the house as she hears Jane play at the piano some of her favorite pieces. She admires Jane’s ability to turn off the world around her while she escapes into a landscape of flowing chords and expressive dynamics. Liz plays the piano but her place of solitude and escape is usually found in a good novel but there seems to be a apparent lack of availability of finding one at her parent’s home at the moment. She settles for the latest Faces magazine with articles of some well-known celebrities who are entering their fifth and sixth marriages as a celebration for each year of their notoriety.
“Where is everyone?” flounces Mrs. Bennett into the room “Where are my girls?”
Lydia walks gracefully and none too quickly down the staircase taking in the moment of her grant arrival.
“You look beautiful Lydia! You remind me of myself when I was your age. All the boys chased me but somehow your father managed to catch me and bring me home” reflects Mrs. Bennett sighing for affect.
“Maybe I should have lost the address” states Mr. Bennett under his breath but loud enough for Liz and Jane to hear with slight giggles.
“What’s that dear? What are you saying?” asks Mrs. Bennett.
“I was just saying how lovely you look in that dress” smiles Mr. Bennett catching Liz and Jane’s eyes with a gentle plea not-to-tell.
“Where is Kitty? Mary is already in the car waiting for us. I think that she has been sitting there for over an hour!” exaggerates Mrs. Bennett but the truth is that Mary has been waiting for quite a while. She makes it a rule and habit to be punctual. “It seems like we are always waiting for Kitty!”
Kitty runs down the stairs jumping over the last three steps and awkwardly sliding across the tiles on the floor in her heels gently pushing Lydia as she comes to a stop, “It’s because Lydia hogs the bathroom and won’t let me in until the last minute!” Lydia shrugs her shoulders and pushes Kitty away.
“I don’t want to sit in the back!” firmly states Lydia to Jane “I always have to sit in the back with those two” pointing to Kitty and Mary.
“You do not always have to sit in the back because Jane and I don’t live with you any more nor do we go to many places together. You can handle it for a day” responds Liz annoyed at her sister’s immaturity.
“Okay, but tell Kitty to not take off her shoes. I can’t stand the smell of her feet” returns Lydia.
“My feet are fine. I had smelly feet from old tennis shoes one time and you’ve never let me forget it. Your feet stink too but I’m kind enough to never mention it!” shouts Kitty.
“I don’t want to talk about stinky feet when we’re going to wedding. Why don’t we talk about the flowers or something else” replies Mary to the relief of Jane and Liz reconsidering if this was a wise idea to all ride together for an hour.
“So are we ready for prom?” as Mr. Bennett starts up the minivan.
“This isn’t a prom, dad. We’re going to a wedding. We don’t have dates like someone might if they were attending a prom. Also none of us are wearing white which you can at a prom but not at a wedding to be polite to the bride” remarks Mary informing her dad of social customs.
“Thanks Mary, I will need to keep that in mind for the next wedding we attend. I will make sure that I do not wear my white suit from my prom many years ago” replies Mr. Bennett.
“I don’t think you could fit in it anymore” frankly replies Mrs. Bennett as a statement of fact and then reflecting “However, we need to get you a new suit. You’ve gained some weight lately but this suit will do for today”.
“Thank you for noticing” politely responds Mr. Bennett tapping his stomach with both hands over the buttons that are struggling to close on his vest and then placing them back on the steering wheel.
Lydia and Kitty giggle to each other and at Mary who turns up her nose and decides to observe the various types of trees that line the streets in their neighborhood and challenges herself to remember as many as Latin names as possible to keep her mind off the laughs of her ignorant sisters tightly sitting next to her.
Many of the spots are full as they pull into the parking lot of the Netherfield corps. It is a huge corps by Army standards and has many of the traditional music and character building programs as well as being a trendsetter for upcoming media and social networking ideas of community outreach.
Several families are the foundation of the corps. They have been members for many generations. They have intermarried and remarried to form a stable community of fellowship and belonging. Some of the smaller corps feel left out from this tight-knit group and often mistakenly referred to the corps as exclusive.
The truth is that reaching out to other Salvationists and trying to include them is not exactly their strong point. They are polite but not friendly, they are nice but not kind, they are caring but not merciful, they are warm but not loving, they are accepting but not necessarily advocates of grace. But this could soon change.
As they enter the chapel, Jane notices Emma and Knightly coming in the doorway. She is so happy to hear about their engagement. Attending camp was fun with both of them even though they do not see each other very often as adults.
“They seem so happy together!” Jane points out to Liz who whole-heartedly agrees with her.
“I think that is the happiest I have every seen Knightly. He’s usually pretty serious, but he can’t seem to stop smiling” observes Liz.
“Do you see anyone else that we know?” asks Jane
“Oh no, there’s April Hawkins! I use to not like her at all when we were teens. She was such a twit each summer at camp to me. She always seemed to be competing with me, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t in competition with her. She could do whatever she wanted and seemed to get by with it too” but after reflecting for a few seconds, Liz continues. But you know, Elton seems to bring out the best in her too”.
“I’m sure that you both have grown up a lot since then. Life has moved on” wisely remarks Jane “We didn’t have much of a chance to get to know her better then.”
Liz wonders if Jane ever gets tired of her optimism about people. “I’m sure that you are right and that there are many more qualities to appreciate in a friendship with her now”.
They find their places as a family in one of the many long mahogany pews that outline the chapel. The place is packed with friends and loved ones. The chapel is exquisite with every finest detail attended to with affection. It is a moving ceremony of devotion and commitment.
Each of the Bennett girls recognizes friends from various places and events in the passages of time. Sitting among the pews are long lost best friends, secret crushes, a handful of challenging individuals, some that they shared moments of hilarity and laughter, and others who have been there at poignant moments in their lives. But most have moved on to other places, met new friends and are not as close as they once were. It is a day of reckoning the overall view of God’s plan in the many relationships that God has brought into their lives.
As Jane sits watching the service, she politely looks around at the crowd. She notices a man with blond wavy hair that seems to be staring at her. She politely smiles and turns back around. A few minutes later, Jane considers taking a better look at the attractive guy that appeared to have noticed her too. She turns and with her peripheral vision looks casually over her shoulder. Jane is stunned to discover that the handsome man is still looking back at her. She nervously squeezes her hands together in her lap and smiles to herself. It has been a long time since she has noticed anyone being so directly interested in looking at her.
Liz stretches her neck as she reflects on the words of what Elton is emphasizing to Jane and Grant earnestly and sincerely standing before him. Words such as ‘love’, ‘commitment’, ‘faithfulness’, ‘promise’ ring through her thoughts. She unintentionally turns to the row across from them and notices a man to be appearing to mimic her thoughts. Perhaps feeling that someone is watching him, he turns and notices her response as well but quickly looks down at his program to recollect his composure. Liz notices his profile and finds that there is something very appealing about him. He does seem a bit astute and standoffish but maybe that is just a first impression. There is something masculine and gentlemanly about his demeanor. Liz considers introducing herself if there is time at the reception.
Next to her, Lydia is obnoxiously swinging her crossed leg back and forth waiting for the ceremony to end so they can meet new guys at the reception. Her gum smacks with each finished affirmation of affection. Occasionally a bubble will burst on impulse. Kitty is attuned to this and hits Lydia’s rhythmic leg every time that it happens. Lydia immediately replies with a whispered “oww” but quickly forgets the sisterly discipline and annoyingly continues the same routine.
On the other hand, Mary has spied a young man with red lieutenant’s trim from across the room stoically paying attention to the service through his loud sniffles and cough. After each torrent, he raises his nose a little higher. Mary wishes that she had brought some tissue with her to let him borrow because he seems in need of some.
The lieutenant with one star on each shoulder is tall and gangly with unkempt black curly hair. It appears he forgot to brush his hair this morning because his hair is slightly flat on one side. His uniform is a little worse for wear but Mary assumes that he wasn’t able to get to a dry cleaner in the hustle of recently moving to Crestwood. She notices that when he crosses his legs his pants only reach mid-calf and show his brown socks that do not match his midnight blue uniform. Most men usually choose to wear black or blue socks with their uniforms. The brown color of choice makes Mary believe that this new lieutenant must have an independent spirit about himself much like her own. He is sitting with his tunic unbuttoned with an un-ironed shirt and an obviously stained tie but at least he is wearing a tie-tack.
“Tunics are only worn on Sundays during the summer anyway. Maybe he just didn’t have time to iron his shirt with everything else that was going on” thinks Mary to herself “Maybe he doesn’t even own an iron yet.”
Holding hands with Mr. Bennett anxiously Mrs. Bennett looks around the chapel and counts the number of what appears to be available single men for her daughters. Mrs. Bennett attempts to match up what she considers might be likeable pairs to match her daughters’ temperaments and personalities. She is not selective in her appraisals and would be happy to see any of her daughters if not all find a suitable or even just available match at the wedding today.
Watching the service, Mr. Bennett sighs. His girls are growing up. Jane and Liz have finished college, Mary in community college, Lydia a senior in high school, and Kitty just behind her as a junior. Regardless of how much he wants to ignore the fact, they will be finding husbands soon and starting their own families. It has all gone too quickly. “Couldn’t time slow down until we are ready for our inevitable futures?” he thinks to himself.
The ceremony is completed and the guests are invited into the large carpeted Fellowship Hall for the reception. Jane and Grant lead the procession down the floral decorated aisles of the chapel.
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