The Wedding Dance Plus 40 Years

Cozy Morley, that North Wildwood entertainer immortalized by a statue near where his Club Avalon stood in Anglesea for many years, always included in his revue “When Your Old Wedding Ring Was New.” If he sang it once, Cozy sang it a million times over at least as many summers. There were always a few tears falling around the room as he crooned, and I could never really understand why. After all, isn’t a wedding ring just a piece of metal what’s the big deal? Oh, I know, it means so much, but tears? Must have been the beers that brought them on. That’s what I thought then.
Not far from where old Cozy crooned his tunes, on June 1, 1974, a Saturday afternoon that lingered well into the evening, in the Anglesea Fire Hall, a somewhat starry-eyed couple danced their first dance as man and wife, having pledged their troth just a few hours prior in a little country church up in Goshen. The church, as have many things over four relentless decades, has closed. It will, however, remain forever open in their thoughts as they remember that joyous gathering of family and friends who sat on the wooden pews as she said her vows and slipped on his ring and he did the same with her ring. After the Lord’s Prayer, they were pronounced man and wife, and off they were driven in the rear seat of her almost-new Chevy Impala, with air conditioning so cold it could have frozen turkeys.
There are some from that gathering who remain, while others have joined the unbroken circle in the sky. And yes, there are new ones, too, who came later. They helped the couple appreciate life together.
“When your old wedding ring was new. And each dream that I dreamed came true
I remember with pride how we stood side by side. What a beautiful picture you made as my bride”
We were blessed, on that happy day, to have two photographers snapping our poses, capturing us forever young. The album is in the bedroom closet, preserved in plastic binding. The photos, oh, they bring a chuckle from the grandchildren who, when it gets pulled down, wonder about the dark-haired guy with a goatee is with that lovely young lady. And who was the best man and the maid of honor?
It was just yesterday, or so it seems. Then came births of twin boys, and the sad passing of one. So soon into married life to be making such somber decisions, but we soon realized that life had to go on, and yes, indeed it did. In time, another birth, this time a little girl. And I puzzled why so many folks said to me, “Now you have a rich man’s family.” Rich? They must not have been seeing the checkbook I did. Still, somehow ends were met and the original two became four. Wasn’t that just a week or two ago?
“Even though silver crowns your hair, I can still see the gold ringlets there
Love’s old flame is the same as the day I changed your name, When your old wedding ring was new.”
Grade school passed, then came high school graduations, then on to college they went. And just like that, as Tevye and Golda opine in “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Sunrise, sunset Sunrise, sunset Swiftly flow the days. Seedlings turn overnight to sunflowers Blossoming even as we gaze.”
Through the years, the couple maintained traditions. They helped them understand the passage of time. Christmas cookies were baked by the thousands. New Year’s Day dinner is ham, macaroni and cheese, lima bean casserole. Easter eggs were dyed by the children, now the grandchildren. Labor Day barbecues, always with macaroni salad and more than enough food to feed the Army. She never let him forget that, in an old Valentine’s Day ad, he wrote “I can’t believe it’s been 10 years,” when in fact it was longer. OK, so everyone is entitled to a little miscalculation aren’t they?
New families have formed from that original. They’re on the move, and sometimes the couple can’t seem to keep up with all that’s happening, but there’s nothing wrong with that either.
Friday night doesn’t carry the same meaning it once did, when he’d stop at a fast-food place and bring home dinner to the waiting family, but that’s all right, too. Late nights that once kept them (mostly her) up with ill children, or tugged at their blankets because bad dreams scared them are done.
But then, there were weddings, then babies. New joy, new life, new meaning each day. Now there’s often a cry in the house, two months old, and some of the old memories stir once again. But oh, how things changed in that short (???) passage of time.
They kiss good night earlier now than before. Neither can recall the last time they watched the 11 o’clock news, or even made it through the 10 o’clock news. So murder and mayhem continue, but their life together goes on, sunrise after sunrise.
Forty years it’ll be June 1. To this very day, he can’t believe she said “yes” to that question decades ago. She probably wonders the same thing about the answer she gave. Yet they both look with joy and satisfaction over a life that has been, all things considered, blessed by the Almighty and very good.
Would they ever trade places with anyone? I don’t think so.
Sing it again, Cozy, wherever you are. No tears here, just a lump in my throat.
Happy Anniversary, Mrs. Campbell.