A Message From A Teacher
Growing up, the Andersons and I had a piano teacher named Renee. When we were teenagers, she moved back to Japan, and it was very heartbreaking for all of us. You, the audience, might remember that there was a brief moment where I almost moved to Japan to teach English as a second language with Renee, back in 2019. Unbeknownst to me, during her pregnancy (2023), August got back in contact with Renee. Unfortunately, August and Emerald were unable to attend my wedding. As the rest of the family was there, and Emerald was supposed to be our flower girl, August was very upset. Arden snapped a few pictures of us after Fr. David said, “You may kiss the bride,” and sent them to August. Feeling even more left out after seeing Paige and my first kiss as husband and wife, she reached out to Renee and let her know what was going on.
Paige and my first dance ended, and I kissed her. Unfortunately, my tux shoes were not that comfortable, and I really wanted to take them off, but I knew that I had to wait. We had the father-daughter dance (they danced to "My Girl"), then the mother-son dance (we danced to "Father and Son"). During that time, the members of Cousin Simple were filing onto the stage behind Mom and me. When Mom and my song ended, our DJ, Ed called my dad and Mrs. O'Brien up to the dance floor as the band started playing the intro to Nothing Sweeter. Paige walked up to meet my dad, and I walked up to meet her mom.
Mrs. O'Brien and my dad were both a little flustered as they made their way to us. “Hi, Mom,” I said to Mrs. O'Brien with a smile as she took my hand. We danced to Nothing Sweeter, and I was very proud of myself for managing to keep this secret since January. About halfway through Nothing Sweeter, Will, the lead singer, called all of the guests up to the dance floor. After Nothing Sweeter, Cousin Simple played Vacation (Taylor Swift), Fast Lane, Talk, Poison Ivy, and then Will called Paige and I up to sing Prima Donna with them. The original chorus for Prima Donna goes, “You're a Prima Donna, it's okay, I am too. Said your name was “Maddie,” Maddie I like the view.” Will decided to change the name “Maddie” to “Paige.” It was honestly a dream to sing with them, and I know I will never be able to sing the words right again. When we had finished, Ed started playing our wedding playlist. I ran to the dance floor and noticed that my coworker, Elizabeth, had taken her shoes off. Since she had already done it I ran as fast as I could to Dad's office so that I didn’t miss much of the reception.
As I untied my shoes, my phone buzzed in my pocket. It was roughly 9:00 a.m. the next morning in Japan, so Renee had just woken up and seen August's text, and she immediately sent me one and congratulated me on my marriage. As I read the text, I thought about the time I almost moved to Japan. My life would be so different, I thought, if that had actually happened.
To Be Continued…
