Growing up I attended many weddings on my Mom’s side of the family. Each wedding my Mom’s cousin, Uncle Jack, ((as I grew up calling him)) would always do a special dance with the bride. It did not matter who was being married, whether it be one of his son’s, one of his nieces or nephews, or even now one of his grandchildren, he danced this special dance with each of the brides. This became a family tradition which I hoped I would be able to enjoy at my wedding, and I did!!!
I attended a good number of “Thompson” weddings and at all of them, that I can recall, Uncle Jack did the famous Mountain Music Dance. My cousin Michelle was married in May of 2008 and I witnessed her dance with Jack and afterwards, knowing I was the next to be married, she gave me a bit of advice. “Take it slow Megan, it is a long song”. Luckily I remembered that for my wedding day, because that advice came in handy and while you are full of energy and excitement, the song is long. You convince yourself that it is just about over only to have it continue on and on and on!
Uncle Jack is in his 70’s now and seeing him dance the Mountain Music Dance with Michelle made me question if he’d be willing to do the dance with me come October. I made sure to ask him while at Michelle’s wedding and he gave me the ever so cute smile that he has and said he wasn’t sure. I politely said that I hoped so because I had been hoping for years that he’d dance that dance with me on my wedding day.
On [intlink id=”255″ type=”post”]Our 10.11.08[/intlink], I had the opportunity to dance the Mountain Music Dance with Uncle Jack. While the tradition is for the song to be played during open dance time, our DJ mixed things up a bit and played the song right after everyone ate, including Uncle Jack!! I heard the beginning cords of the song and my heart sank because this wasn’t how it was suppose to be! I was afraid Uncle Jack would refuse to dance, but he was a real trooper and while he leaned over and said he was afraid he would lose his dinner, he outdanced me! ((I am 43 years younger!)) All of my relatives surrounded us dancing the upbeat Mountain Music Dance, just like all the other “Thompson” weddings I had attended in my lifetime. While this day was very special for Josh and I for so many reasons, this was a special moment for me. All of my relatives dropped their forks and circled my Uncle Jack and I on that dance floor like they did for every other wedding!
A friend and co-worker of mine was quick on her feet and took a short video of Uncle Jack and I dancing… Take a peek!
[flv]http://photos.insideourshell.com/content/9605_Videos/mountain-music.flv[/flv]
Thank you Uncle Jack for sticking it out one more wedding and dancing the Mountain Music Dance with me. It was very special to me as I know it was special to my Mom, seeing her daughter dancing the traditional dance with her cousin.
Jackie, thank you for taking the video for I will have this memory forever!
Mom said,
July 27, 2009 @ 9:33 am
Megan, that is so beautifully written as i sit here with tears running down my cheaks. I must find a way for Jack to be able to read and view this. I don’t think they make use of the computer and email.
Yvonne said,
July 27, 2009 @ 5:18 pm
Wow Megan how beautiful. I am also sitting here with tears in my eyes. It is really like a Hallmark moment because when Jack was 50 he had open heart surgery and at his next son’s wedding he danced and we all cried and Bless his Heart he has continued the tradition. We must get this to him to see.