The Long Drive Home

Weddings are such a great place to get material for characters and books. Family relationships are so complicated, but everything seems to come to the forefront at a wedding. You could almost plot a romantic suspense book from it. I'll give you an example.

The bride and groom are so in love, and it's so romantic to see the light between them, and they don't have eyes for anyone but each other. You hear about how they first met and began dating and how wonderful it was. You hear about the ups and downs, and how they finally got together in spite of it all. That's the romantic part.

The drama comes when the wedding party moves to the dance floor. You have the "aw" moments of the bride and groom's first dance, dancing with the respective mother and father, but then the real drama begins. Crazy Uncle Pete gets out there to start the chicken dance, and finally convinces a few kids to join him, while everyone else looks at each other in horror like, you couldn't drag me out there! The little kids are running around getting underfoot with their parents chasing them, the teenagers are trying to look cool, nodding and head bobbing and high fiving. The grandparents and parents are all looking on proudly, and are a little weepy, as their children/grandchildren move into a different phase of life, and all the memories of their little boy or girl are especially tender.

Then the cake accidentally gets nudged and the top falls off, and the bride accidentally cuts the wrong side of the cake and feeds the groom styrofoam. But the piece de resistance is when the traditional garter tossing takes on a whole new meaning when the groom is blindfolded and his best man has the garter on with the train of the wedding dress thrown over his leg for good measure. Boy, was the groom surprised!

This is how it's like plotting the elements of a book. You are introduced to the characters and the conflict. You wonder if they will get together. You get to know them and if it's a romantic suspense, feel the flush of romantic love with them. On the journey, there is the "aw" moments, and every good story has at least one crazy character (Uncle Pete) and one conscience character (grandparents/parents). There's always good chases, (kids) and trying to be cool under trying circumstances (teens). Of course there's lots of action (cake falling, eating the styrofoam side of cake instead of real cake). Sometimes there are tricks, (best man in garter) but in the end it's all good and possibly you're surprised (just like the groom was). And of course you always hope for the happy ending.

Okay, so I'm stretching, but I had a really good trip to Canada and lots of time to think on my twelve hour drive home (as you may be able to tell). The weather was perfect, and I got to see my entire family which hasn't happened in a really long time. Lots of good times and lots of good memories. Congratulations Bob and Beth! Love, Your Sister.