Mom gets hitched!

At some point in 1994, Mom called and told me that she was going to get married to Dend, the man she had been dating on and off for the last few years. I got along okay with Dend and I was glad to see Mom move on after she and Dad divorced. She told me that she wanted Loyd and me to give her away at the ceremony. We both said we'd be happy to. Mom also asked me to provide music for the wedding. I agreed to do that. The wedding was scheduled for the evening of Friday, July 22, 1994 at her house. It was going to take place in her backyard.

Later on that day, I talked to Dad about some other topic. Toward the end of the call, I said, "By the way, Mom's getting married." He said, "Well, that's great! The man she's marrying is a good man and I'm happy for her!"

I spent the next few months preparing music for the wedding. There were three songs that she wanted to have played during the ceremony. She had someone who would sing them. I figured I could program those three songs note by note in the sequencer on my synthesizer. That way, the music would be played "live" during the wedding. She also had a few songs that she wanted to play while people were coming in and getting their seats. I just needed to play them into the sequencer and record them on a cassette tape. She sent me the sheet music for the songs she wanted. I also had the sheet music for several other songs and came up with about 30 minutes' worth of music. After that, I programmed the primary songs and kept them stored on the keyboard. I would have to drive from San Diego to Artesia with my keyboard. I was supposed to arrive on Thursday and have it set up for the rehearsal, which was scheduled for 6pm.

This hadn't been planned ahead of time, but Abed came out with me and I dropped him off in Alamogordo. We had some adventures getting to and from New Mexico. I will go into detail about that in future posts. However, that part of the road trip caused me to get to my Mom's house about 5:55pm. Everyone involved in the wedding was there and they were all waiting for me to set up the keyboard.

I was surprised when I saw Dend because he had a toupee on. I was used to him being bald, and the hair kind of threw me off. I guess he wanted to look younger for the wedding pictures and video. Grandma Bend, Aunt Mard and Uncle Herd, Uncle Ord and Aund Merd, and Aunt Cind and her children were there. Everyone appeared to support the marriage.

Mom had a temporary gazebo set up in the backyard with rows of folding chairs. She had done a lot of work getting the wedding ready. It was a much bigger production than her original wedding, in which a few family members and friends gathered at her mother's house for both the ceremony and the reception.

The rehearsal got underway and there didn't seem to be any issues after setting up the sound system. Everything went like it was supposed to. We didn't seem to have anything to worry about. I know that I spent the night at Dad's house because everybody took up the available bed space at Mom's.

I don't recall anything special happening the day of the wedding. It was a beautiful day, everybody was where they were supposed to be and everything started on time. It was pretty hassle-free. Mom cried all throughout the ceremony. This was captured on the video.

The reception was set to take place at the Elks Lodge, where Dend was a member. One of the benefits of membership was that you got the place for free if you got married. Mom, Dend, members of the wedding party and most of the guests went over there. I, Loyd and the family members stayed behind and started cleaning up the backyard. We folded up the tables and chairs and put them away. This took a lot longer than expected. So long, in fact, that by the time Loyd and I got over to the lodge, everyone had finished eating and had started dancing. That meant we didn't get any food. We had to go out and get something to eat.

The next morning, I met Mom and Dend at the hotel where they spent their honeymoon in Artesia. They were eating breakfast with his parents. I had somewhere I had to go that day and told them goodbye.

The whole thing was completely worth it. Mom and Dend remain married to this day.