20 Years Ago Today

Twenty years ago I rode home from the hair salon in jeans and a flannel shirt. I was twenty-two going on the rest of my life. My hair was styled in an up-do with tendrils, just the way my mom suggested. Looking back now, I wish I would have worn it down with my natural curls, so the photos would still look like me. But I was young, impressionable, and my mom knew which looks suited me so I took her advice. We walked into the townhouse, the home of my adolescence. The home I had moved from a few months prior when I graduated college. The entryway was walled with mirrors from ceiling to floor, and I stopped to look at myself. My make-up was not yet done, but I donned my veil pulled back over the white satin headband my mom had adorned with beads for my special day. It appeared no part of me was ready, except for my hair. But I was happy and calm, nothing like the magazine articles and well meaning stories from others. No jitters, no butterflies, just excitement. We were getting ready to drive over to the venue, and Mom stepped up to me and took both my hands. We looked in the mirror together and then turned to look each other in the eyes. We stood intimately close, face to face, and she gave my hands a gentle squeeze. She got serious for a moment, not emotional but businesslike and she said, This is it. If you've changed your mind, if you have any doubts, we'll call it off. No questions asked. I remember the moment more clearly than almost any other in my life. I looked her dead in the eyes and responded, Mom, I've never been more sure of anything else in my life. She pulled her lips in, choked back some tears, and hugged me tight. Then we were off and I got married.

Photography was so different then.