I Now Pronounce You Man and Husband

I now pronounce you man and husband.

Hmmm... This is not what you think.

This, in fact, is what the preacher said when my beloved and I were married over 30 years ago, and I am to blame.

This poor man had conducted dozens of weddings prior to ours and I am sure he thought ours would be another routine ceremony with the usual vows. I was all of 19 (yes, it is embarrassing to admit that), but had very definite opinions about what I wanted.

In this case, I had a hang-up about the preacher pronouncing that we were man and wife. As I reasoned, he was a man; I was a woman. As a married couple, why is he still a man, but I have become a wife? I felt very strongly that the pronouncement should acknowledge that change was ahead for both of us, not just for me (even though I did have the whole name change thing). When we met with him to discuss the ceremony, I respectfully, yet firmly requested that he pronounce that we were husband and wife.

I could tell that this was unsettling to him. I could not imagine why. Maybe he had said the same thing so much that he did not even have to think. He could set the cruise control as he began the ceremony and reach consciousness in time to have cake. Nevertheless, he agreed to my request. So there we were, at the end of the ceremony, having said our vows, getting nervous about the big kiss in front of everyone, when he said it.

“I now pronounce you man and husband…er, I mean…husband and wife.”

With the maturity of a 19-year-old, I looked at him through slanted eyes, convinced that he did it on purpose, just to get me back for making him think during my wedding ceremony. However, he did say wife, and I liked the sound of that, so my irritation was quickly forgotten.

Isn’t it interesting that I remember nothing else that was said, except that my very nervous groom, while repeating his vows said, “Till dearth shall part us,” which, of course, marks another time that my immaturity reared its ugly head as I broke out in a fit of giggles. I was already crying (with happiness) at the time, so with the tears and the runny nose and the giggles I had a lot going on while trying to repeat my vows.

I look back on those two kids and how little they knew about life and about each other and I thank God for blessing that union of man and husband…er…wife.

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Mark 10:7-9