Love Sounds: After Dinner Conversation, #57

By Pamela L. Laskin

Synopsis: A mother suffering from mental illness wants to help plan her daughter's wedding.

After Dinner Conversation believes humanity is improved by ethics and morals grounded in philosophical truth. Philosophical truth is discovered through intentional reflection and respectful debate. In order to facilitate that process, we have created a growing series of short stories, audio and video podcast discussions, across genres, as accessible examples of abstract ethical and philosophical ideas intended to draw out deeper discussions with friends and family.

Podcast discussion of this short story, and others, is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Youtube.

• Language: English
• Publisher: After Dinner Conversation
• Release date: Jul 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393284918

Book preview

Love Sounds

After Dinner Conversation Series

MY DAUGHTER’S GETTING married. She is thirty-two and beautiful. I remember—it seems like just the other day—when she was sprawled and breathless. There she was, flat on her back, covered by pink panda pajamas, the odor of sleep drenched in her pillow. Today she is a young woman, and one whom I am proud of; she’s doing work at Rutgers University, the kind of work her deceased father did, as a researcher. The groom, Mark, does the same kind of work, which is lovely since they can travel to conferences.

I am hoping they can find a nice conference to Hawaii right around June; it would be perfect for the honeymoon. I see her now—her long, auburn hair piled sky-high on top of her head, the lilies streaming down the piles of lace on her long, white gown and taffeta—oh, and such beautiful taffeta. A gust of wind comes from nowhere and blows the window open—a poltergeist, perhaps, here to disturb my reverie. I imagine Mark in his black tux with a blood red tie. Who will be his best man? Who will be her maid of honor?  Deidre was named for my dead father, Dave, whose funeral I never got to attend. I wanted to, but I had the flu, and I didn’t want to give it to my nieces and nephews. I’ve always loved the children. I’ll make a fine grandmother!

And what about the mother of the bride? Of course, the color of the dress I wear will depend on Deidre and Mark’s color scheme. I will suggest pastels to her, since I look so good in pastels with my bronzed complexion. Deidre isn’t often open to my suggestions; she often says, Mom