This morning I wished my mum a Wedding Anniversary.
Dad is no longer with us and it would have been 56 years of marriage.
This time my mum, in telling me about her Big Day, came up with a new anecdote, namely her being late for church. I couldn’t believe it. I was all ears!
Uncle Giuseppe had taken her to the hairdresser’s that morning and while waiting had gone to buy little Giovannino’s shoes.
My mother’s harsh remark:
Did he really have to go that morning?
Couldn’t he have stayed put and waited there?
What had in fact happened? What had happened was that on his way to pick her up, he had a flat tyre on his car and, in those days when mobile phones didn’t exist, he hadn’t been able to warn her. Think of my mother, unhappy about the fringes imposed by the hairdresser, (who knows if she had done a trial hairstyle) she was also anxious about her brother not arriving.
Uncle Giuseppe had taken her to the hairdresser’s that morning and while waiting had gone to buy little Giovannino’s shoes.
My mother’s harsh remark:
Did he really have to go that morning?
Couldn’t he have stayed put and waited there?
What had in fact happened? What had happened was that on his way to pick her up, he had a flat tyre on his car and, in those days when mobile phones didn’t exist, he hadn’t been able to warn her. Think of my mother, unhappy about the fringes imposed by the hairdresser, (who knows if she had done a trial hairstyle) she was also anxious about her brother not arriving.
Moral: a 30-minute delay underlined by the conspicuous disappointment of my father’s family and relatives who had started celebrating at eight in the morning.
When I think back to my sullen, excited and agitated mother with the tights that annoyed the hell out of her, (she is an observer of the rules of etiquette to the point of asphyxiation) I can’t help but smile and soften, wanting to yell at her in person, but “come on Bruna”, don’t think about it anymore, you were the most beautiful bride in town!!!
Below are some photos of her first wedding dress. Of the others unfortunately I have no photos, (yes she had two changes of dress!) I only know that the afternoon dress was yellow with coloured flowers and the one worn in the evening for dinner was a plain blue with a little jacket and sheath. Both strictly made by her, who prided herself on being the sole seamstress of herself, her daughters and only a few very rare exceptions!
