Gratitude is expressed to "Hawkeye Couple" and Sam for their editorial assistance. Their gracious assistance has helped to move the story to the next level.
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Doris, like most women, loves weddings, especially weddings of family members. Radiant brides in their flowing gowns, handsome grooms in their fine tuxes and youthful, excited faces made her romantic heart flutter. Tears of happiness flowed freely. Weddings remind her of that joyous day 28 years ago when, in her white bridal gown, she was escorted to the altar by her father. He gave her in marriage to her beloved Royce in this very same church. Escorted from the narthex to the seat reserved for the mother of the groom, her knees weakened.
Jeffery, her 22-year old son was minutes way from being wed to Pamela. His marriage to Pamela, a woman nearly 17 months her son's senior, grieved and cut Doris deeply. Yet for the sake of family peace and stability, for seven months Doris has put on a brave happy front. She knew that if she strongly opposed the marriage her strong willed son would have more than likely eloped.
As the scents of the floral arrangements filler her nostrils, her heart was heavy as she enters the pew. Her husband slipped beside her. His holding and squeezing her hand did nothing to lift the heaviness upon her heart.
Earlier that morning, as she dressed in her light blue gown, she thought, "woe to any mother who has to watch her son marry the wrong woman but can only smile while anguishing inside." All day she had wanted to scream but could not find neither the voice nor courage.
Jeff and Pam have known each other all their lives. Vince and Tara Anderson, Pam's parents, were the first to arrive at their door when Doris and Royce, along with their newborn, moved into their new home almost 24 years before. As it turned out, Royce and Tara were acquaintances in high school when they played in the same school band across town for two years. In his senior year Royce had asked Tara, a sophomore, to the homecoming dance only to find that she had already accepted to attend with another young man.
The two women quickly became the best of friends and the husbands became golf partners. Naturally, as their children grew, the two Anderson children and the three Kimble children mirrored the friendship their mothers had developed. Though a street separated the families, they often functioned as one large family with a band of pavement and green space between the two halves of one larger home.
Both parents were surprised when during Pam's senior year that Jeff, a junior, was Pam's prom date. Their parents knew Pam and Jeff boated and fished together at the cottage the two families shared, and that they attended sporting events and dances with the same group of friends, that they played in the same trombone section in high school, but they had not suspected that the hours Pam and Jeff spent talking would move beyond friendship. Neither set of parents imagined that Jeff and Pam had romantic thoughts toward the other. Jeff's and Pam's siblings were not as blind as their parents to the budding relationship.
Thinking about the various rites of passage associated with proms Doris breathed a sigh of relief when Royce sat Jeff down to talk about Pam and the prom. Royce reminded Jeff a woman must be treated with respect, treasured as a priceless jewel rather than merely used as an object for his pleasure. He cautioned him about letting his hormones and peer pressure unduly sweep them to bed each other. The speech was not unknown to Jeff as he heard it before every first date. Also, seeing it modeled was not new either as Jeff saw how Royce treated his mother with love and adoration. Royce reinforced the message further by reminding Jeff that he should do nothing to harm the love and friendship the two families shared, or put his friendship with Pam at risk by a misstep in a moment of passion.
As Doris and Royce watched Jeff escort Pam to Royce's freshly washed Avalon, Royce mentioned they made a lovely couple. Doris nodded her agreement. They did look good together even if Doris did not share her husband's enthusiasm. She knew Pam was not the right woman for her baby.
Until early August, Doris lived quietly with her inner tensions as Jeff and Pam dated that summer. One evening she expressed to Royce that Pam was not right for their Jeffery. When asked why, Doris replied, "A mother just knows these things. They are not right for one another." Her husband dismissed her feelings as groundless. The following May, Doris' concerns remained when Pam returned from college to be Jeff's date at his Senior Prom. Again, Royce dismissed her negative comments.
While Doris hoped all her children would attend her and Royce's alma mater she was quietly pleased Jeff enrolled at another college, as Pam was attending Doris' alma mater. She was comforted that Jeff was going to a college 70 miles east of home while Pam's was 55 miles to the north. Being 67 miles apart by the shortest route would help any fledgling romantic feelings die. Doris was confident that the separation, along with raging hormones with hundreds of available dates at hand, would direct their romantic attention toward others. Not always subtly, Doris encouraged her son to play the field. It was too early to settle on one girl, she argued with Jeff. She knew Pam was hearing similar encouragements at home.
The summer after Jeff's freshman year and the next, Doris was happy when Pam worked at a National Park in Wyoming. Each Christmas and summer Doris asked Jeff about his love life. Though he guardedly gave no details, she sensed her son was dating. Through Tara, she learned that Pam also was dating at college. By early October of her senior year, Doris was thrilled to learn that Pam was in love with a young man she had been dating regularly. Jeff, now a junior, was dating seriously a coed named Lisa.
When Doris asked during a March telephone call when he would introduce Lisa to his parents Jeff replied, "When Lisa's father will accept me dating his daughter."
