At 3:30, Mary, who owns the house across the road, called to tell me her husband Jerry was going to perform a wedding at 4:00.

"Would you be a witness to the nuptials?", she wanted to know.

"OF COURSE I WOULD!" I told her. "How exciting! I'll be right over!"

The happy couple is Carl and Adeana, our neighbors that have the farm just up the road.

The bride was nervous and shy; she giggled.

Carl was grinning ear to ear despite the fact he lost his front tooth a couple days ago.

I witnessed Carl and Adeana's wedding and then helped Mary delete photographs of our town's Family Fun Days Parade from her new digital camera so she could take pictures of the newlyweds- alone, then with Adeana's twin four-year-olds, then with Jerry, the Notary, who had a difficult time straightening up his eighty-year-old body.

There was cake and wine and good wishes all around.

I bought a dozen farm fresh eggs from Carl and came home.

God strike me dead if a word of this is not true.

God strike me dead if I ever, ever have to live elsewhere.

L.E. Hughes is a columnist, writer and owner of Diamond Corner B&B in Stratton, Maine. She welcomes your thoughts and comments: dcorner@tdstelme.net.
© April 2005 Lew-Ellyn Hughes. All Rights Reserved and Retained by the Author.