A Step Forward
WRITTEN BY ANN THOMPSON
As her daughter Jenny walked towards her future, Carol couldn’t help reminiscing about the past
Carol felt a surge of pride as she watched her daughter, Jenny, start to walk down the aisle. The young bride seemed to float along in her intricate lace dress, but she looked terribly nervous and glanced sideways at her father for reassurance.
He gave her an encouraging smile and they carried on their way, beaming at the guests who were craning their necks to get a better view.
Carol’s eyes suddenly filled with tears. Weddings shouldn’t make her cry. But what had happened to her baby? It seemed like only a few years since she and her husband Dave had brought her home from the maternity hospital.
How many sleepless nights had they endured? How many times had they wondered about what to do when their daughter cried in the night? Dave had collected loads of manuals on how to maintain different sorts of cars, but there was nothing on how to look after a tiny human being!
As Jenny walked down the aisle, Carol was reminded of her daughter’s first faltering steps. She started off by hanging on to the furniture, then decided to launch off by herself. Her chubby little legs seemed to keep giving way, but like most toddlers, Jenny had just chortled and kept picking herself up again. Not much later came the swimming lessons. If the walking business had seemed easy, this was even better.
“She’s taken to it like a fish!” Carol would proudly tell her friends later. She failed to mention that she had watched, terrified, from the viewing area and had never learnt to swim herself.
More steps down the aisle. Jenny had walked very timidly on her first day at school. She’d already been for some taster days, but at the gate she’d looked imploringly at Carol.
Do I have to go, Mummy? Can’t I just stay at home with you?
She’d gone in the first day without too much trouble, but there had followed days when she had to be prised away from Carol. There had been tears at times, but overall Jenny had done well at primary school.
More steps. Jenny was halfway down the aisle now, and Carol suddenly became aware of the organist playing the Wedding March.
Carol’s mind raced back to when Jenny first started playing the recorder.
After a tuneless start, with a great deal of ear-splitting notes bursting forth, Jenny suddenly seemed to get the hang of it. She soon progressed to the clarinet and saxophone with ease, passing many music exams.
More steps – Carol’s mind suddenly went back to the day Jenny got her first bike. She had wobbled about on it for most of the summer holidays, then came the big day when Dave had taken the stabilisers off.
There had been a few tumbles, then she suddenly kept her balance and spent the last couple of weeks pedalling furiously down the street, but never further than the second lamppost.
Jenny was three quarters of the way down the aisle.
Carol was still reminiscing. The first day at High School had been almost as nerve-wracking as the first at Primary School. There had been a new uniform to buy, sports equipment, school bag – the list had been endless.
To add to the pressure, most of Jenny’s friends had gone to a different school, so she was starting from scratch again. On some days Carol had wished that she could have gone in with her, but she knew that Jenny had to learn to stand on her own two feet.
More steps down the aisle. Several years into High School, Jenny had brought her first boyfriend home. Carol shuddered at the memory of the long-haired young man whose conversations seemed limited to grunts and monosyllables. Thank goodness that wasn’t the one she was marrying!
More steps. University had followed, with Jenny doing a degree in Archaeology. Carol couldn’t understand why her daughter enjoyed spending so much time digging up dirty bits of old plates and bones, but each to their own.
Jenny was almost at the front of the church by now. The young man beaming at her, waiting for her, was a fellow archaeologist. Al, in Carol’s view, was on a different planet when he talked excitedly about all the finds he had made on the latest dig. But he was well mannered and, most importantly, an ideal husband for Jenny.
A few more steps. Jenny was at the front of the church now. Her dress seemed to dazzle everyone with its brilliance, a shine only matched by her radiant smile.
With a start, Carol came back to the present and realised everyone was looking at her expectantly.
How embarrassing!
She fingered her collar nervously and cleared her throat…
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here together…”
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