It was Our Royal Wedding

On April 27th, 2011, the world focused on the royal wedding of Prince William
and Miss Catherine Middleton. There was love. There was glamour. There was a prince
and a new princess – a living fairytale. A princess: the dream of many little girls who
now had the opportunity to live it through the eyes of Catherine Middleton.

On May 27, 2004, there was another wedding. There was no prince, no princess,
and no glamour. Crowds lined the way to the wedding, but they didn’t wave and cheer.
There was no pomp and pageantry. There was only one thing the two weddings had in
common: Love.

Ginny and I took the bus into Manhattan with two of our friends. In the city, we
took the subway to City Hall to be married. We walked to the massive doors and were
turned away. “The City Hall is closed.” the guard informed us. “We’re having a terrorist
drill today.” This was great for the employees; it was bad for us.

“We came to be married.” Ginny pleaded with him.

“You can always go to Brooklyn.” he said. “It’s only a few stops on the subway,
across the East River.” He paused and then added, “We’re directing everyone there.”

I looked at Ginny. She looked at me. We looked at our friends. They wanted to
see us marry. “Why not?” They shrugged.

Off we went. Two blocks later, we dropped under the city to the subway. The four
of us smiled and laughed at this new development. Ginny wanted to be married in
Manhattan, but Brooklyn would do. We didn’t care. The thing that mattered was the
beginning of our new life together.

Along the way, a crystal clear voice rose about the chatter of the passengers. It
began at the rear of our car and floated through the air the bells of a church on a still
winter morning. Ginny and I sat and smiled, as we tried to identify the singer. The train
stopped, the commuters parted and we were able to determine the source of the beautiful
voice.

In the rear seat of the car, sat a very old black man, dressed in what once was a
very fine suit, but now showed its wear. He sat comfortably in his seat. With his eyes
closed, he sang from his heart. His words were as pure as his soul.

Our stop came. We rose and noticed the man was standing as well. We exited
the train and walked along the platform. I stopped. “Ginny, his voice was our blessing on
this day. Wait a minute. I need to do something.”

I rushed in the direction the man was headed. Through the crowd of commuters,
I spotted his dark suit. I ran up to him. “Sir, my love and I are about to get married. I
wanted to thank you for the song. It was a sign of good things to come for us. Thank you
for making this day special for us.” I shook his hand. I turned to leave. He opened his
hand to discover the couple dollar bills I’d left there.

“Thank you, sir.” he called after me.

I smiled and waved. “No! Thank you. God bless you.”

A few hours later, I stood holding Ginny’s hand as we said our vows.

To me, that day was our royal wedding. It wasn’t much, but to us it was the
most glamorous day of our lives. It was our Royal Wedding.

Michael T. Smith

Story ID:	7237
Written by:	Michael Timothy Smith (bio, link, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Musings, Essays and Such
Location:	New York USA
Year:	2004
Person:	Ginny