Chapter 12

[Janice writes from Preservation]

George asked for someone to come down in the Connie. Many of those in Port Lavaca wanted to attend the wedding. Mike and Jen and both sets of parents had become popular while visiting. George added that he wanted to come a little early if someone could give him lodging to look at the generators and such. We told him we would do what we could but were going to be busy. He might be better served to stay after the wedding when things would be calmer. He agreed to that and we said we would be in touch by radio.

We flew home the next morning going direct since we knew there was plenty of gas in Carrollton. We landed almost an hour after the Connie and avoided the big crowd that welcomed the Connie and its occupants back home.

Mike and Jen's wedding was going to be a huge event. Mike and Jen were fairly well known and very well liked despite their young age. On top of that Mike's parents were legends as was Jen's father. It was being touted in all the communities as the event of the age. The three mothers were working on making it a big success. Invitations were sent verbally to everyone in all the communities. Tom and Vic were in great demand. Robby and Pam volunteered their services with King. Bennie and I were in the wedding and were involved too much to provide transportation services.

Bennie and some of the men in Preservation opened a couple of the local hotels, cleaned up the rooms, and had them ready for guests. Every room would be put to use along with any homes that had extra rooms. Tom and Vic flew in the day before the wedding from Protection with a full load in the Connie.

People began to gather in the late morning. The day dawned with bright sun but cool enough to be comfortable. The wedding party was dressing. I would be wearing a dress for only the third time since the Day. The two other times were my weddings!

It would be the most formal wedding ever held in any of the communities. Mike's little sister would be flower girl and my own Charlie would be ring bearer. The only question that had to be resolved would be which one of Jim's wives would be seated first. It wasn't an argument and it settled with a coin toss. A few coins were kept just for that purpose.

The bridesmaids all walked the aisle and I took my turn with Poppa Jack taking my arm. I had chills running down my spine. When Jen walked in on her father's arm, tears came to my eyes. Mike was standing across from me and his smile covered his entire face!

Jen and Jim reached the front. Jim then said the famous words with a slight difference. He said, "Her mothers and I do." He placed Jen's hand in Mike's and took his seat between his wives.

The wedding was held outside because of the size of the crowd. No one ever counted but estimates ran at around five hundred or more. I thought there was almost that many from Preservation with half again that many from the other communities.

The reception started after the wedding and continued long after the newly weds departed. They would stay at the home that Mike built and Jen decorated before leaving on their honeymoon. They had invitations for many different places but settled on the lake that we had found in South Georgia years ago. People had kept it up and in use over the years and there was a cabin there that had been decorated just for them by a family that Poppa Jack had helped years ago.

The wedding and reception were almost as much for them as for Mike and Jen. Poppa Jack and Momma Shirley had been unstinting in providing assistance to everyone and were good, effective leaders of Preservation. The wedding and associated events were an opportunity to offer thanks to them as much as celebrate the joy of their oldest child's wedding.

Mike and Jen were not the first post-Day babies to marry but there hadn't been many. Everyone felt that their being wed was as much ordained as Poppa and Momma's. They were truly meant for each other.