More Living Columnists

• Dolores Sanchez Badillo: The view from the fenceline
• Mary Penner: Learning about your past is an awesome journey
• Steve Brewer: Goofy fads can hold fond memories for families

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

MURRIETA, Calif. — My idea of a good time: Detouring a wedding entourage on its way to a reception, kidnapping the bride, tossing her in a wheelbarrow and scooting up and down the hills of Roosevelt Park.

I instigated creative chaos on my sister's wedding day seven years ago. Lucy and Ethel would have been proud.

Driving across the Arizona desert in June of 2000, I was feeling melancholy about the upcoming nuptials of my little sister and the perfect man she chose to be her mate. The union of these two wonderful people was a happy thing. The fact that this was yet another milestone that our family would have to endure without our mother, was, quite literally, along with the desert climate, knocking the energy out of me.

Tom had barely got to know my Mom before she died, yet our whole family was grateful that they had met. Renee, the last of my parents' six children, would soon marry a man my mom would have been happy to call one of her own.

On that drive from California to New Mexico, I began reminiscing about my parents' wedding. Of course, I wasn't there, but my Uncle Bill, who had borrowed a friend's hand-held motion picture camera - a rarity in 1950 - was.

My uncle recorded some of the coolest wedding footage, and it was played over and over again in the Sanchez household.

Back in 1950, the camera panned the reception line outside Belen's original St. Mary's Catholic Church. I got to see my grandfathers who I never had the privilege of knowing. Then there were the smiles of my Mom, the beautiful, shy bride, and my Dad, the handsome, blue-eyed devil.

At some point the camera was put aside and the group left Belen and drove to Albuquerque to celebrate with a wedding day brunch. When they appeared on film again, the entire wedding party was at the park. Not just any park, but the crown jewel of Albuquerque's parks back in the day. It boasted giant trees and steep rolling hills.

There was some construction going on at Roosevelt Park on that long-ago wedding day. Luckily for my troublemaking uncles, a wheel barrow became the get-away vehicle used to kidnap my mom from her new husband. The silent film shows her, in her wedding finery, being pushed up the grassy hills and then nearly dumped out of her ride. Finally, my dad finds his wife and rescues her. How spontaneous and fun and romantic - and caught on film for all time.

You couldn't plan anything better than that - or could you?

Back to the ride through the desert: The proverbial lightbulb lit up when I realized how awesome it would be to re-enact my parents' romantic interlude at Roosevelt Park - on my sister's wedding day. All I'd have to do was borrow or steal a wheelbarrow, highjack the wedding party and pray that my sister would see the humor, nostalgia and romance of the idea.

I was invigorated, yet also fearful that Renee would cry and forever remember how I screwed up her meticulous planning.

As the idea unfolded in my mind I dragged my husband into the plot. His role was crucial to its success. I soon realized I'd have to let my future brother-in-law in on the surprise.

Once in New Mexico, I filled him in on the family history and he loved the idea of a re-make. How did he think Renee would feel once she realized the stretch limo transporting them from church to reception had taken a huge detour? Would she turn bridezilla and freak out? Maybe the emotion of not having our Mom there to share her special day would be too much and the idea would backfire.

Should we risk it? Tom gave the green light and became part of the scheme.

My husband acquired a wheelbarrow. My sister Dorothy hid it and showed up to the wedding with it in her van. The whole family and wedding party were in on it. We found out later that Tom's family, most of them from Connecticut, were very puzzled about what they thought was an odd New Mexican tradition.

The wedding itself went on without a hitch. I wasn't nervous walking down the aisle - with a closet full of unsightly bridesmaid dresses and being a one-time bridezilla myself, I knew the steps. I was nervous about the timing and coordination of the upcoming Roosevelt Park detour.

The groom told us later that Renee absolutely noticed the moment the limo driver veered from the expected route to the Wool Warehouse in Downtown Albuquerque. As the stretch pulled up to the park, she commented to Tom that they were at the same park her Mom and Dad went to on their wedding day.

The next thing she knew, my husband swung open her door, reached in and picked her up. Michael carried her to her awaiting wheelbarrow lined with a beautiful blanket - a planned luxury my mom didn't have 50 years earlier. Then, the men in the wedding party took turns wheeling the new bride up and down the hills of Roosevelt Park. The photographer took some memorable pictures.

The bride was radiant. She loved the break in her wedding day routine. While taking in the moment and the beauty of Roosevelt Park, my Dad and all of his children felt an extra special affinity toward my mom.

Surely, she was smiling down on all of us that June day seven years ago as she gave the bride and groom her blessing.