Chapter 15: Married

My Sweet Lady

July 2nd, 1983

The Friday afternoon, I was packing up a few things to take back home for the mid-year break when Murray Allen knocked at my door.

“Great, you’re still here,” he said. “I was hoping to catch you before you left. I guess there’s still stuff to sort out for the wedding and honeymoon. I wanted to tell you, it’s not official yet, but we recommended that your thesis be accepted, and you will be getting your PhD. Now, it still has to go before the Professorial Board, and they will recommend that to the University Council, but the three of us in the examining group thought it was excellent, and have made that recommendation through the Dean’s office. Approval from the Professorial Board and Council is pretty much a rubber stamp. Congratulations, it was very well deserved.”

I stood up, and he came over to shake my hand.

“We all thought you did an excellent job; getting your name, and the University’s name on some of those RFCs was a bonus. Things like that, which also reflect positively on the University, go down well with the Council. Now, even though you aren’t officially ‘Doctor Morris’ until you receive your degree at the September graduation ceremony, I’m arranging for all of the staff to get new business cards printed, showing our internet email addresses. How do you want your name to appear, ‘Doctor William T. Morris’, or just ‘Doctor Will Morris’?”

“The second, just Doctor Will Morris, I think. The only time I get called by my full name was by my parents, and then only if I was in deep trouble!”

“Fair enough, I’ll get the cards organized. Anyway, I wanted to make sure you knew, before you left. As I said, congratulations, I knew when I first met you, when you were at that programming vacation school, and Phil McCrea told me you were one of the most promising students he had seen, you would be a real asset to the Department. You’ve become one of our best teachers, your students speak very highly of you, and the research work you are doing is highly regarded in the field. It’s really great having you as part of the team here.”

I felt rather self-conscious, I was sure my cheeks were burning. I thanked him for his kind remarks.

“But I really owe it all to you, and some of the other staff here; Alan has been a great mentor; and being in this group with Claude, David and Michelle, they are a huge support. I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of everyone else here.”

“That’s how things should work in a well-run university department; everyone supports everyone else,” he said. “Anyway, I’ll let you go, I’m sure there’s still a lot you have to do to get ready for the wedding; we will see you on Saturday.”

As he left, I thought that was a great way to start my mid-year break; news that I would be getting my PhD in a few months; pretty much the culmination of the second stage of my overall life plan. The first stage was getting my undergraduate honours degree, then my PhD and a job lecturing. And now I was only a few days away from getting married; married to an unbelievably beautiful woman, a woman who I could never imagine not being with. Something was bound to go wrong, soon...

I told Lisa about the news of my PhD from Murray, that night, we made love; just the two of us.

“This is the first time I’ve ever had a doctor make love to me,” she said. “I love how your ‘stethoscope’ fits inside me.”

“Not that type of doctor, silly,” I said.

Undeterred, she started singing:

Doctor Doctor, gimme the news
I got a bad case of lovin’ you
No pill’s gonna cure my ill
I got a bad case of lovin’ you

I was laughing so much, I could hardly sing the next bit:

I know you like it, you like it on top
Tell me mamma, are you gonna stop?

“Oh, yes, I LOVE it on top!” she said, flipping us over so she could mount me.

My parents were very happy about my news when I told them as well, my mother commented that I was now more academically qualified than my father – he had got a postgraduate degree, but only at the Masters level.

“It’s not a competition,” I said. “Besides, Dad has been my main inspiration throughout my whole life.”

At the beginning of the week, I had a phone call from Martin, my old school friend and attorney.

“Will, I’m not sure if you’ve thought of this with everything coming up for your wedding, but ... did you realize that getting married automatically voids the will which we set up at the end of last year?” he said.

“I vaguely remember you mentioning that to me,” I said. “So, I assume if I were to die after getting married, then, what happens?”

“Effectively, you die intestate,” he said. “And by the normal practice of inheritance and probate, everything will go to Lisa. Now, if you want, I can have pretty much an identical will drawn up and ready for you to sign, once you are married, and just change Lisa’s name to her married name, and mention her as your wife. She’s changing her last name, I assume?”

“She will be changing her name. Now, will she need her own will?”

“Not unless she wants specific bequests; otherwise all of her property will go to you. What we should to, as well, is change the title to your house to joint tenancy; I’ll get those changes in process. I’ll have the documentation there on Saturday for you to sign.”

“Now, here’s a question for you,” I said. “When, during the ceremony, does a couple actually become ‘legally married’? Is it when the celebrant declares them to be husband and wife, or when they actually sign the certificate?”

“You’re not thinking of carking it halfway through the ceremony, are you? That would add some unnecessary excitement!” he replied. “Now, I’m not sure of any actual precedents, but I believe should such a situation arise, then courts would accept that the couple were actually married, as soon as the celebrant declares them to be legally wed. The certificate is just documentation that can be used to prove it actually happened. I can imagine it being an interesting case though. Let me toss in another complication; the couple exchange their vows, but the celebrant dies before making the declaration...”

“My God, Martin, is that the sort of stuff you lawyers dream up for excitement?”

“Don’t get me started on your computer types,” he replied. “Anyway, I’ll have the stuff for you to sign; you can sign the new will right after you sign the marriage certificate.”

“Thanks, Mate; I’ll see you there.”

The arrangements for our wedding were falling into place, only the final important task – writing our vows – remained. On the Saturday, with a week to go, Lisa showed me something she had found, and asked my opinion.

Today, (name), I join my life to yours, not merely as your (husband/wife),
but as your friend, your lover, and your confidant.
Let me be the shoulder you lean on,
the rock on which you rest,
the companion of your life.
With you I will walk my path from this day forward.

“I think that is perfect”, I said. “It sums up precisely how I think of you.”

“That’s what I thought, too. I didn’t want anything that implied there wouldn’t be any other lovers, or that we were exclusively part of each other, nothing about honour and obey.”

“No ‘plighting my troth’, whatever a troth is?” I asked.

“Certainly not! I think ‘troth’ means faithfulness, loyalty. That makes me sound like a pet dog, or something like that,” she said.

“But you do like it doggy style,” I said, earning a soft punch on the shoulder.

On Monday evening, we met with Janet, who would be the celebrant for our wedding. She thought the vows we came up with for our vows were particularly good; she outlined what she wanted to say, some background about marriage, love and attitudes. We had everything now pretty much organized; all we had to do was turn up on the day, and say the right things at the right times.

Wendy did the final adjustments on the dress that Lisa would be wearing; she wasn’t going to wear a traditional white wedding gown. Rather, she had chosen an ivory coloured two piece outfit; I thought it looked great on her, but Lisa and Wendy felt it needed a few adjustments. The hemline on the skirt needed to be taken up slightly, and minor adjustments around the waist, and the shoulders and bust on the jacket were also adjusted. I couldn’t tell any real difference, but both Lisa and Wendy were pleased with the result.

Garry had organized my buck’s night; it was a rather sedate affair with a bunch of us going to the ‘Black Stump Steak and Ale’ restaurant in Crow’s Nest. We were rather restrained; well, if you don’t count embarrassing the poor waitress who was trying to explain the various degrees of ‘doneness’ that the steaks came – medium rare had a ‘warm red centre’, while medium had a ‘hot pink centre’. Comments that I would be experiencing another type of ‘hot pink centre’ left our waitress red in the face, and not able to speak for a minute or two. But, the meal was good; it was great to spend some time with my mates.

On the Friday, the day before our wedding, the Franklin Dam case decision was handed down by the High Court. I was overjoyed with the result; four to three in the Federal Government’s favour, and construction of the dam, and the destruction of pristine wilderness areas of South-west Tasmania was blocked. Of course, the Tasmania State Government was not all that happy, there was talk of an appeal to the Privy Council. However, such appeals had occurred only once since Federation, and they were having themselves on if they felt they could successfully appeal to, in my words, ‘a bunch of undemocratically appointed of men back in England’.

There were other people upset with the decision, the most vociferous was the Queensland state Premier, the cantankerous Joh Bjelkie-Petersen. He was shown on the news, ranting about the ‘Socialist Federal Government’ in Canberra trampling all over ‘State’s Rights’. More likely, he was upset that the Federal Government could now prevent (corrupt) state governments from destroying the country’s environment and heritage, all in the name of profits for various political leaders’ mates.

“Maybe the Federal Government should look into the crooked voting system in Queensland, where things are so biased, that the Country Party wins government with twenty percent of the vote,” I said.

“Do you think they are worried the Federal Government might enforce a ‘one person, one vote’ requirement?” Fiona said.

“What Joh would want is ‘one white man, in the rural areas, one vote, all the rest of you, bugger off!” I said.

“Or for the Country Party, one sheep, one vote,” Lisa said.

“At least that stunning wilderness will still be there for future generations to see it,” Mary Beth said.

The night before our wedding, we packed our suitcases for the week in Melbourne; with an overnight bag to have in our cabin on the train. Lisa was spending the night back in her old room at her parents’ place; something about it being bad luck for me to see her on the wedding day before the actual service. That superstition sounded silly to me; but I wasn’t going to start our married life off by arguing about something that was so trivial.

The morning of my wedding day dawned fine and sunny; we could have chosen to have an outside ceremony, but not being able to predict the weather, we had decided not to risk it. After a leisurely breakfast, I got dressed into my suit, and waited for Garry to arrive to drive me to the Town Hall.

“Have you got the rings?” I asked him.

“Of course I have, now stop worrying, just enjoy the day,” he said.

The main room had been decorated for the occasion; at one end, there was a wooden gazebo, covered in flowers, which was where we would be standing for the ceremony. Chairs had been arranged in front of it for the guests; after the ceremony the staff would move the chairs back to the tables that had been set out for the meal. Meanwhile, the others in the band were starting to set up on the stage; it felt rather strange knowing I wouldn’t be up there performing. Well, with the exception of a special song that I would be singing for Lisa, my place was down at the bridal table.

People started arriving; we had received almost two hundred acceptances from the people we had invited; there had been a few last minute additions, Georgina had asked if Ross could attend, and Chrissy wanted to know if Mark and the others from their group could attend. There was no problems adding a few more; not with the numbers that we had prepared for anyway. My parents arrived with my brother and sister; Ian was going to be my second groomsman, standing alongside Garry, Shane was there with him, holding his hand. Right on schedule, Lisa arrived with her father; Georgina and Desley were with them. Since it wasn’t going to be the traditional Church style wedding; there was no procession down the aisle; Janet asked us all to take our places at the front, next to the gazebo.

Lisa looked absolutely stunning; she was wearing an ivory coloured two piece outfit – what she called a ‘Chanel suit’; the skirt was mid-calf in length, straight, with an elegant tailored jacket. Her long brown hair had been styled this morning, and was hanging straight down to her breast level. She was wearing a hint of makeup; just enough to highlight her dark brown eyes and full lips. I couldn’t believe that this beautiful creature was about to marry me.

“Welcome, everyone; family and friends of Will and Lisa, as we share today in their declaration of their love for each other,” she said. “Now, if this was a traditional church wedding, instead of me being here officiating, you would have a priest or minister in his robes, and he would give some homily about how marriage is a gift from God, and how a husband should love his wife in the same way as God loves us. But I’m not going to talk about that.

“Rather, today is all about the love Lisa and Will have for each other. I know from talking to them, they would both acknowledge that there won’t be any difference in the love and devotion they have for each other tomorrow over how they feel about each other today; the mere act of being ‘legally wed’ won’t mean they love each other any more than they do now. For them, the act of being married is a convenient social shorthand for letting people know that they are devoted to each other, and plan to spend their lives together in love.

“Now, the idea of people marrying ‘for love’ is only a recent concept in our society; if you go back a hundred or more years, most marriages were just a means to allow people to live together and raise children without drawing the ire of the church. For the wealthy or mercantile classes, a marriage was often done as part of a business merger; a means for one family to share in another family’s business interests, or build up their land holdings. For the upper, political classes a marriage would often seal some diplomatic arrangement. In some cases, a couple would develop loving feelings for each other, but for others, if they wanted romantic love, then that was found in mistresses or lovers, not in their spouse.

“But that certainly isn’t the case with Will and Lisa. Now, let’s get started with the official part of the ceremony. Is there anyone who knows of a reason why Lisa and Will cannot be lawfully wed? Speak now, or forever hold your peace.”

I looked around, feeling slightly nervous. No one spoke up.

“Now, according to the law, I don’t really have to say that,” she continued. “But most people expect that, and in all the time I’ve been a celebrant, there has never been a case where someone has spoken up. I somehow imagine one day, some crazed ex-girlfriend will storm in, scream out ‘Stop! It should be me!’, and proceed to lay waste to the ceremony using her telekinetic powers. Maybe I’ve been reading too many Stephen King stories!”

Everybody laughed, and Garry whispered under his breath “none of Will’s ex-girlfriends are that crazy!”

“Now, the legal formalities. Lisa and Will, I will ask you some questions, and you have to answer truthfully. Lisa, are you at least eighteen years old?”

“Yes,” she replied.

“And are you aware of any impediment that would prevent you from being legally married to Will?”

“No, there isn’t any.”

“And are you entering into this marriage willingly, without any external compulsion, and of your own free will?”

“Most definitely!”

“Very good. Now you, Will.”

“I over the age of consent, I know of no reason why I could not get married to Lisa, and I am doing this freely and willingly,” I said, anticipating her questions.

“Now, it’s time to exchange your vows. Will and Lisa have written their own vows, which reflect their feelings for each other, and their hopes for their future together. Lisa, can you repeat after me?”

She then read through Lisa’s vows, line by line and having her repeat each line, and then it was my turn.

Today, Lisa, I join my life to yours, not merely as your husband,
but as your friend, your lover, and your confidant.
Let me be the shoulder you lean on,
the rock on which you rest,
the companion of your life.
With you I will walk my path from this day forward.

“Now, the exchange of rings,” Janet said.

Garry pulled the rings out of his waistcoat pocket, placing one in my hand. I took Lisa’s left hand, and as I was sliding the ring onto her finger, I recited the second vow that we had prepared.

“Lisa, I offer this ring to you as a symbol of my love and of the vows I have just spoken.”

Garry gave her the other ring, and she did the same, sliding it on my finger, and saying her vow.

“Will, I offer this ring to you as a symbol of my love and of the vows I have just spoken.”

“Now, by the powers vested in me by the Commonwealth of Australia,” Janet said, “I declare you husband and wife.”

Everyone clapped and cheered; I looked around, my mother and Lisa’s mother were both crying; as were many of the other women looking on. I still couldn’t work out why women cried at weddings.

“Will, you may now kiss your wife.”

We had discussed just what sort of kiss we would have; and as much as it would have been fun for me to pull Lisa into a deep passionate French kiss, we decided to be a little more cultured and restrained. I held her shoulders, and kissed her softly on the lips. More cheering from the audience; and I noticed the photographer – someone from Lisa’s camera club – taking more photos.

“Now, bear with us while I get Will and Lisa to sign the official documents,” Janet said, and ushered us into the gazebo.

While we were signing the forms, Allison, Fiona, Mandy and Rachel stood up, and started singing an a capella version of ‘Ave Maria’. They must have been practicing for several weeks; their harmonies were simply beautiful. I didn’t know who was responsible for the arrangement; most likely Mandy, but they did a fantastic job.

With the paperwork complete, Janet thanked everyone for attending, and said they could now congratulate the new Mr and Mrs Morris. We first went over to our parents, and they congratulated us; then it was posing for what seemed like a million photos. There were family groups; photos with people from my work, Lisa’s work, sailing, school friends, Alberts, other groups. By the time the chairs had been moved to the tables, and it was time to take our seats for the meal, my jaw was aching from constantly smiling.

My Uncle Harold – well, he wasn’t really my ‘uncle’, per se; he was my mother’s cousin, and also one of my godfathers – was the MC for the day; he took the microphone, and told everyone to make their way to their seats, as lunch was about to be served. Lisa and I were up on the main table; Garry, Georgina, Ian and Desley sat on either side of us, along with my parents, and Bill and Olga.

The food was particularly good; the caterers were the same people as did the food for the engagement party. This time, they had staff to bring us plates; there was a choice of beef or chicken; I chose the roast beef, as did Lisa. After the meal was cleared away, speeches were made, toasts proposed and responded to; Garry spoke quite well, he somehow didn’t embarrass me at all; without mentioning any of my previous girlfriends.

Just before the music was scheduled to start for the dancing and our Bridal Waltz, I excused myself from the table, and got up on stage. I had prepared a special song to sing for Lisa; it had taken a lot of thought to come up with just the right song for her. I had practiced it in my office at Uni for several weeks, it was a bit challenging, since I couldn’t really hit some of the high notes, not the way John Denver could. I sat down on a chair, Mary Beth had already positioned mikes for me, I checked my guitar tuning, and spoke to the crowd.

“Well, it’s pretty rare for me not to sing and play when we are performing at weddings,” I said. “Today though would normally be an exception, since I have a rather more critical role to play. But I wasn’t prepared to let this celebration go by without singing at least one song. I have prepared a song, just for my lovely wife. Lisa, this one is for you; it sums up my feelings for you, for us.”

I strummed the opening chord; and I was happy with the sound levels. Time to sing:

Lady, are you crying, do the tears belong to me
Did you think our time together was all gone
Lady, you’ve been dreaming. I’m as close as I can be
And I swear to you our time has just begun
Close your eyes and rest your weary mind
I promise I will stay right here beside you
Today our lives were joined, became entwined
I wish that you could know how much I love you

I looked across towards Lisa, I could have sworn she was brushing some tears from her eyes. She looked up at me, and smiled, her face lit up.

Lady, are you happy, do you feel the way I do
Are there meanings that you’ve never seen before
Lady, my sweet lady, I just can’t believe it’s true
And it’s like I’ve never ever loved before
Close your eyes and rest your weary mind
I promise I will stay right here beside you
Today our lives were joined, became entwined
I wish that you could know how much I love you
Lady, are you crying, do the tears belong to me
Did you think our time together was all gone
Lady, my sweet lady
I’m as close as I can be
And I swear to you our time has just begun

When I finished, there was silence for a few seconds, then everyone clapped. I put the guitar back on the stand, jumped down from the stage, and walked back to my seat.

“That was so beautiful,” Lisa said, kissing me. “The words were so special, it summed up perfectly how I feel about you, too. I didn’t know you were going to do that!”

I told her how I spent weeks working out just what would be the best song to play, I didn’t want to sing something that I associated with anyone else.

“Some of those higher notes, I was worried my voice my crack,” I said.

“It was so beautiful,” she said. “You made me feel like I am the luckiest woman in the world.”

“Now, after that special performance from Will, it’s time for the new Mr and Mrs Morris to take to the dance floor for their bridal waltz”, Uncle Harold announced. “I think the band is ready?”

He looked up at the stage, where Phil gave him the thumbs up. We had asked them to play ‘Fascination’ as the first song, then shift into ‘Melody of Love’. I had asked for that, as it was the bridal waltz my parents danced to when they were married. I took her hand, and we moved out to the dance floor, she put my arms in mine, and we waited for the music to start.

“Does it feel strange, being here on the dance floor, and not up there singing?” she asked me.

“I can still sing along,” I said, and then the music started.

It was fascination
I know
And it might have ended
Right then, at the start
Just a passing glance
Just a brief romance
And I might have gone
On my way
Empty hearted

“I love having you singing to me like that,” she said, her head resting on my shoulder.

It was fascination
I know
Seeing you alone
With the moonlight above
Then I touch your hand
And next moment
I kiss you
Fascination turned to love

I had to admit, Allison was very good at singing that song; she and Mandy sounded really good together. They then segued into ‘Melody of Love’, and our two sets of parents joined us on the dance floor.

Hold me in your arms dear, dream with me.
Cradled by your kisses tenderly.
While a choir of angels from above
Sings our Melody of Love.

Heart to heart forever, lips entwine.
I am yours and you are mine, all mine.
Heaven wrote the music up above.
For our Melody of Love.

It was lovely, holding Lisa in my arms while we danced; I sang softly, just so only she could hear me. When the waltz finished, they moved to some other songs; part of our usual dance set, ‘Till There was You’, ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, and a few others. Lisa and I kept dancing; we swapped around, I danced with my mother, she danced with her father, my father danced with Olga. We swapped again, I danced with Olga, while Lisa danced with my father, and my mother danced with Bill.

“You are so light on your feet,” Olga said. “You are almost as good at dancing as your father. But I don’t think he can sing as well as you!”

“I don’t think he can, either,” I said. “I guess playing and singing gives me a good sense of rhythm, plus ever since we started playing at the Mirage, back years ago, I would dance with some of the others during our breaks.”

“I wish there was a place locally where we could go for dancing like this,” she said to me. “It’s a pity that place you played at a few years ago, that Crystal Ballroom closed down.”

After some dancing, Lisa and I circulated around the guests; we caught up with some of my old school friends; Martin and Leanne; David, Brenda (Frog’s sister) and Cathy and Martin.

“I’m really happy for you, Will,” Cathy said, giving both Lisa and I kisses on our cheeks. “After everything that we went through, you deserve someone who will make you really happy.”

“Thank you for that,” I said to her. “Although I am the one who believes I’ve been really lucky.”

She gave me another quick kiss on the cheek, and we moved on to some of the other guests.

We had probably spoken to most of the people, when I saw a bunch of others join the group on the stage; George Young, together with Angus, Malcolm and Brian from AC/DC, Don Walker and Ian Moss, Chrissy and Mark. George stood up at the microphone, and looked across towards Mary Beth.

“Ah, G’day everyone, I just want to say a few words about Will, before we perform the next few songs. I’ve been privileged to know Will for quite a few years now, working with him on a number of recordings, and not only is he a great musician, really talented, but he’s a top bloke, someone I consider to be a good mate of mine. And it’s not just me who thinks this way, all of the others up here who have worked and played with Will think the same. Now, there’s a few others here, they should be up on this stage as well; come on Harry, get your lazy Dutch arse up here. Jim, Ted, Glenn, you three as well. We’re going to put on a great show for our mate Will, and his lovely bride, Lisa. Now, we are going to play one of Harry’s and my original hits, one that Will has been performing for a few years, and in our opinion does it better than we ever did. Are you all ready to have a GOOD TIME?”

What I thought of as the ‘supergroup’ launched into ‘Good Times’. The stage was crowded; people were sharing amplifiers and microphones; Don Walker and Ted Albert were playing my Rhodes together, George, Brian and Chrissy were sharing the lead vocals. After that finished, they went straight into ‘Make You Happy’, George making a joke, telling me ‘that’s what you should do to Lisa’. Chrissy did the main vocals for that, all the time looking directly at me; no doubt thinking back to when we last performed that together.

“That was some pretty wild performance,” Lisa said to me when they had finished. “I bet you wish you were up on the stage with them.”

“But then I wouldn’t be down here, dancing with you,” I replied.

There was more music and dancing throughout the afternoon, until it was time for Lisa and me to leave to catch our train to Melbourne. As was the tradition, everyone formed a large circle; our parents at one end, and we made our way around the circle, saying goodbye to everyone. Lisa started with my parents, and went around anti-clockwise, while I started with Bill and Olga, and circled the other way.