More on Dorothy Street

My mother lived on Dorothy Street...about three blocks south of the Rio Theatre.  She was living on Dorothy Street when she got married.  She was 25 years old.

The date was April 27, 1948.

She was married at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church close by.  She had a small wedding.  My parents held their reception at my grandparents home.  My grandmother was unable to attend the wedding because there was no one to help prepare the food.  My mother sewed her wedding dress.  It had tiny apple blossoms on it.

Isn't she beautiful?  She had an 18-inch waist-line.  I know this because I heard it quite often.  Sadly, I didn't inherit her genes...I inherited my Daddy's.

I asked my mom about her wedding party.  She couldn't remember their names.  Her maid of honor was an acquaintance from Mission Acres...that's all she remembers.

* * *

Ralph and I celebrated the 24th year of our "second" anniversary, this last Monday, September 6, 2010.  Ralph and I were married civilly in Denver, Colorado on March 27, 1981.  

We had to go through an annulment process (Ralph and I are both Catholic) if we wanted to practice our Catholic faith and marry in the church.  Both Ralph and I have been married before.  I was married outside the church and still had to have my first marriage annulled.  Ralph had been married in the Catholic faith and although he had been married nine years, he, too, had to go through the annulment process, only his was more intense.

We started the annulment proceedings in Denver but had to start all over two years later when we were transferred to Houston, Texas.  Three years later we were granted an annulment and were given permission to marry in the Catholic Church.  Annulments are hard to come by since they get signed by the Vatican...church rules.

Just as we received permission, we were transferred to Longview, Texas.  Father Ryan from St. Leo's Catholic Church gave us our documents and his blessings and off we went to Longview.   We registered at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Longview in August, 1986.  

We took our documents to Father Bennett and asked him when he could perform our marriage ceremony.  Father Bennett was none too happy about marrying us.  We were his first "annulled" couple.  He said he would let us know.

I am assuming he checked out our documents because a couple days later, he called and said he could marry us on Saturday, September 6th.  We had no say in the matter.  Father Bennett was rather embarrassed by our request.  Our two oldest daughters who were 4 and 3 (plus 3-month old Sam) at the time were thrilled and told anyone that would listen that Mommy and Daddy were getting married.  So without any fanfare, and our three girls in tow, we were married in the chapel at St. Anne's on September 6, 1986.

I had dreamed about having a wedding with family and friends...but it wasn't meant to be.

This is me in 1986, wearing my "wedding" dress.  It didn't make it over the years.  It was a gift from my mother-in-law, Aminta Lane Garza,  given to me shortly after Ralph and I were married.  I loved that dress.  Well, lo and behold, I found an exact duplicate a couple of years ago.  I wore it once when we celebrated our "other" anniversary date this last March on our cruise.  I got to wear it a second time to the "Divatudes" (my girlfriends' circle of friends) June Bride's Party.

This was more than fun....it meant so much...

* * *

On Wednesday, last week, I took my mom to the eye doctor.  She couldn't see well with her new glasses.  They had to dilate her eyes.  When she came out to the lobby, she said, "Its a good thing you're so big, otherwise I wouldn't have seen you."

Some things never change.