My brother made the wedding complete

It looked hopeless, but Miles made it after all. His boss had scheduled him to work Saturday night even though Miles has asked for the whole weekend off. He had missed the wedding of our Connecticut cousin, but Dave and his new bride Staci would be in Nebraska for the next wedding only a month later. How could we go without him? Both his sisters would be bridesmaids.

He must have said the right words. His boss just told him, "Go ahead. Go. Just assume I'll find someone else. Next time, give me three weeks' advance when you need a whole weekend off."

We were late for the rehearsal, by ten minutes, but we made it!

My dress got fixed at the last minute, Miles got here at the last minute, and the wedding itself went smoothly. I loved seeing all the Kean cousins again. We never fight, argue or complain. I wish my mom's side of the family would get along like that, but some people are always looking for trouble and never able to see just the good and overlook the bad.

My mom keeps grumbling that weddings are silly, with all those bridesmaid dresses and rented tuxes, and she seriously seems to think we all ought to just elope. She may not have gotten to enjoy her One Special Day because no one in her family knows how to let one person have that much attention all to herself, and her wedding day was more stressful than fun for her. The good news was, only sixty-people showed up for her wedding, so she didn't have a big audience for all the things that went wrong. The bad news was, nobody showed up for her wedding because May 22 is a stupid time of year. Farmers are in the field and students are busy with finals. However, for all her complaints about her wedding day, the marriage itself has been the best thing that ever could have happened to her. Not one of her sisters ended up with a husband anywhere near as nice as my dad.

She knows that. Next, she'll realize that her daughters should have a beautiful wedding even if it is a hassle and a big expense. Nothing is more fun than a wedding for bringing family members together from all over the country. It sure beats meeting up again for a funeral.

I wonder which of our Kean cousins will marry next. The oldest Kean boy, Jim, has four daughters, and they all married in order of age. The youngest one got married last fall. The second brother, Dan, had his first son marry next. The next oldest cousin is Colleen, first child of Pat. If the Keans keep marrying in the same order as they were born, Dan's son Tom should be next in line. Then the youngest son, Tim, my dad, would have his first child, Miles, but this is getting complicated and mathematical. On my mom's side, nobody married in order. Daughter #5 married before Daughter #4 and Daughter #3 came lost, and Daughter #2 eloped, and Daughter #1 was murdered at almost 19 back in 1975.

I can't help wondering what cousins I might have had, if Aunt Julie had lived, married and had children. How many other weddings would there have been?

Unlike my mom's father, who had just one sister, and she never married or had kids, I have plenty of cousins. Even with my mom losing her sister, and my dad losing his sister Patricia to leukemia when she was only four, I still have lots of cousins to enjoy. Weddings and holidays are always pleasant and fun with Dad's side of the family, even if a lot of people came to exist when four sons each had two, three, or four children, so there are thirteen Kean cousins, plus the children of the three oldest cousins. On Mom's side, there aren't quite so many cousins, and none of them have married yet or had children.

Whenever the time comes for Miles, Claire and I to get married, I know we'll never get all our cousins from both sides of the family to show up for the weddings. But I'm glad Miles made it, after all, to Colleen's wedding. It wouldn't have felt complete without him.