“Suddenly there would be this blast from the organ.”

I was in, I don’t know, I think I was in high school, maybe younger, and we went to the wedding of the daughter of a family friend. And at several times during the service, and I mean several times. At least, at least twice, I think it was more. It would be at a quiet time. Maybe the officiant was intoning something, or during silent prayer, or when the bride or groom, maybe were saying their vows. Suddenly there would be this blast from the organ. And I don’t know if the organist was like unfamiliar with the organ in that sanctuary, or if she was, you know, I don’t know, wearing dress shoes or something that she didn’t normally play in. But she was clearly like accidentally stepping on the, you know, the foot pedals or whatever, and I just remember it was like so startling. It would, you know, just kind of blast you out of the pew. And I’m sure she was mortified. But I thought about how like all these years later, I couldn’t tell you which daughter it was in that family that got married, or like what her dress looked like, and the flowers, the bridesmaid — anything, but I absolutely remember, I remember those organ blasts. So that may not have been the way that bride wanted her wedding to be memorable, but memorable it was!

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