A wedding story from the NY TIMES: When Susan met Jack

I deleted this blog.

I took Susan and Jack's story from the Times and shared how I might read it....and what funny comments I might make about their relationship and the course of their courtship.

Hours later....it came to me........that is was disrespectful ...to joke about the trials and tribulations of their love......in a public forum....heck if the story of some of my relationships were printed in the newspaper....I wouldn't want some blogger having fun with what may have been painful times for me.

Susan and Jack.

Mazal-Tov
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My Small Secret Obsession

I glance at the clock.

10:26PM.

It should be posted by now.

I dash upstairs to my large soft reading chair, click on the light, pop open my laptop and wait till I hear the tinkle of a bell.

"Hurry up," I call to my cat.

Her radar has detected Gina--Chair--laptop. She's addicted to the warm air blowing out of my computer and curls up next to me in expected ecstasy.

I hit favorites , NY TIMES, and scroll down the sidebar.

Weddings and Celebrations.

My Saturday night bedtime story.

About 2 or 3 years ago....I discovered the Wedding section of the New York Times. I work in a bookstore. Every Sunday...people arrive at 9am when the doors open to buy a cup of coffee and read the Sundays papers. Since the Times costs about $5.oo, many customers skip purchasing the paper and simply dismantle and scatter the sections around the cafe.

The cafe workers then dump these sections at the Information Desk where I work. Once I found the wedding feature in the Style section folded back and circled in red ink. What's this?? Who's this? Does someone know these people?

The feature read like a soap opera. She loved him, he was dating another woman. She went to California and married. He was devastated she left ... he secretly adored her.... He married. They didn't see each other for years. Each divorced. She attended her 17th cousin's wedding reception in a swank hotel in NYC....he walked in the door. They stopped, gasped, grabbed each other....walked out of the reception into a raging snowstorm in mid Manhattan and married a month later.

I was hooked..... it was so twisted....complicated.... if you submitted this as short story..... an editor would say....it's too far-fetched....too contrived.....not real life.

And so began my little obsession with the feature wedding section every Saturday night. (You can read the paper online the night before....and beat the dismantlers!)

Sometimes the stories are normal....boy meets girl...(but since this is the NY Times...it's more like Harvard guy meets Yale Girl) ...they fall in love....they get married ( with the presidents of 3 major corporations, two Pulitzer prize winners and the Prime Minister of India in attendance.)

Often though....the 1000 word articles have plot twists and are....messy.

I find that comforting.....I can't relate to the celebrities lives on tabloid magazines....but I can relate to the stories of "ordinary people" ....yo-yo-ing... discovering....and looking for happiness.

I like the writing too....a blend of whimsy and journalism.... often pregnant....with a hint of conflict....a subtle statement that alludes to numerous other back stories....and a touch of humor.

And for a reader....always a win-win situation because no matter how convoluted the tale.....the ending is always a happy....at least for that moment in time.

Next post....a couple of stories with commentary.

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