Something old. Something new. Something borrowed. Something blue. For some, it’s tradition. For others, it’s a good luck charm. For Leigh, it was political.
Leigh is a progressive democrat, who was about to marry a conservative republican, in Israel no less. To make their positions clear, a friend gave them a combined wedding gift, including one of my pins, which Leigh promptly decided should be her ‘something blue’. Creative thinking at its best. It caused a LOT of comments according to the bride, and I for one am honored and flattered. I hope Obama is too! To be clear, I don’t know Leigh, and that makes this story of connecting over oceans and social media even more amazing. She and I are now Facebook friends, but this story came to me by way of a mutual friend who loves my work and when he saw the picture on Facebook of one of my pins on a wedding dress, he sent it to me right away. I have to admit, this is a new one. I’ve been lucky enough to see my pins on some rather impressive lapels, like Hillary Clinton, Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright, but never in a million years would I have thought that a bride would choose one for a formal wedding dress at a formal wedding. Now that’s a good story.
According to Leigh, everyone LOVED it. “People just laughed uproariously when they saw the pin. It’s common knowledge that I’m a left leaning liberal, and Jon is a seriously conservative republican. I think they were mostly a little stunned that I would actually wear an Obama pin on such an auspicious occasion.”
The ceremony, in Israel
There is more to that story, so here it is, with thanks to Leigh, for sharing it, and for her spirited and unique thinking. Once upon a time, a long long time ago, a nice Catholic girl decides she needs to go to Israel. She grew up in a religious family and wanted to go to Israel to see what it was all about. She volunteers to work on a Kibbutz and on the first night gets put to work serving food in the dining room. A tall, dark, and handsome guy comes through the line, and stops when he sees her. She was wearing a sweatshirt and an apron, and because the apron covered part of the sweatshirt, all he could see were the letters ITY COLL. The guy says, “Oh wow, you went to City College?” (a school in New York City for nice Jewish girls) She laughs and exposes the sweat shirt which said “TRINITY COLLEGE” (the oldest Catholic University in the world). Fast forward just two days, the couple is living together and madly in love. Eight months later they decide to get married. He calls his parents in Tel Aviv to tell them the good news, and his mother hangs up on him. His father calls back saying, “What have you done to your mother? We didn’t bring you to Israel to meet the only Catholic girl in the entire country.” Great drama ensues and she moves back to the States to convert to Judaism. Great confusion ensues with the converting process, and they end up going their separate ways.
The beautiful bride with the “Something Blue”.
She stays in the States, marries a nice Catholic boy, has two children, and is married for 23 years. He stays in Israel, never marries, and lives on the Kibbutz all those years. The two never lose touch, and stay friends through emails, birthday cards, and the occasional visit when she travels to Israel to see her Kibbutz family. Her marriage eventually comes to an end, and she has a trip to Paris coming up. She asks Jon to go, and is shocked when he says YES! “OMG. He would NEVER do that!! Mr. Conservative, himself, he would need to consult his schedule, think about it, consider the options, weigh the consequences, consult with a committee, think about it some more, sleep on it, then give a tentative answer…..maybe. But he said yes!” So, they meet in Paris and it was as if no time had passed. They spend a fabulous week together in Paris, and decide to finish what they started 25 years earlier. He proposes under the Eiffel Tower. They initially marry in Squaw Valley, Ca. in the snow, just the two of them, she converts to Judaism a year later, and on July 4th, 2012, they have a huge American/Jewish wedding on the Kibbutz in Israel, with 500 or 600 of their closest friends, and they’re living happily ever after.
James Carville & Mary Matalin, what do you think? Perhaps this could become all the rage! I can see it now. The Knot, Martha Stewart, Vera Wang, are you listening? By way of this story, I even found out that the Obama website has a donation gift registry section. The possibilities are endless……..
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