My little brother is getting married. Oh joy. My brother, who will turn 27 by the end of the year, will finally attain what he has so much wanted for as long as I can remember. Too bad he is more in love with the idea of being married, more than actually being in love with the woman he is going to marry. My brother, once an energetic guy, ready to go out into the world and catch it by it's tail, now reduced to a quivering blob of "yes dear". He is not only on a short leash, but he is also on a choke collar.
My sister-in-law...to be...would seem as though she stepped right from a Jerry Springer show...somewhere between "My Father is Also My Pimp" and "Who is the BabyDaddy?" Bad bleach blonde hair with very dark roots, electric blue fingernail polish, pink eyeshadow, and a baby in tow. She comes with more baggage than Gucci. She fears strippers, has no sense of humor, and I'm convinced she keeps my brother locked in a box...only letting him out to go to work and to go with her to kareoke or the bowling alley. He met her on the internet.
Some people should never be allowed access to a computer.
After a long courtship of 3 months, we have news of an engagement. A wedding date has been set before them having even known each other for 1 year. Lucky me, I get to be the photographer...but because they are poor, and I am the sister, I am not charging them for the services everyone else would have to pay close to a grand for. Yes, I do love my brother...even though I personally think he is putting his manhood in a meatgrinder and asking his wife to turn the crank. I'm not alone in my sentiments, and yet no one says a word for fear of alienating him.
My brother has always been one who learns from experience. He never believes in what other people tell him, and the examples he sees never apply to him. So, he will learn his lesson in love the hard way. It was enough for me to watch how our parents struggled, to know never to settle for anything less than what you want. I suppose if all you want is a family of your own, without all the good things that go in it...trust, respect, honesty...any warm body will do. My brother has definitely found that warm body. I only wish I could teach him to look within himself first and find the happiness there he has been looking for, instead of expecting that some stranger is going to magically give it to him.
Everything else after that, is just icing on the wedding cake.
