A Wedding at the OK Corral – Winter 2008

After officiating at over thirty memorial services this year, I welcomed a chance to do a wedding for a homeless couple.  The bride, Tracy, always reminds me of a mountain woman, self-sufficient and strong.  She strides forward with strong, firm steps in her hiking boots. Tommy is a talented guitar player and song writer.  Occasionally, he comes to the weekly Side-By-Side jam sessions for homeless musicians.

The OK Corral is the camp where Tracy and Tommy make their home.  Tommy swept the forest floor clear of leaves and debris, and built an enclosure with tree branches.  Within the Corral, there are two or three tents, a kitchen under a tarp, a campfire, a private latrine, a horseshoe pit, a mini-golf course, stuffed monkeys and snakes hanging from the branches, and stick horses lined up at the trough.  There are clean and sober rules if you want to live there.

For the wedding, a path from the Corral led to a tree with branches twined like a heart.  The slough was behind it and the elevated I-5 freeway roared 100 yards away.  Blue, the dog, accompanied Tommy down the path and friends watched as the bride approached.  She wore a blue denim dress, a black leather vest, and naturally, hiking boots.  Tommy played and sang songs he wrote for the occasion, recalling his life lost prior to finding Tracy, his love.  Tracy plopped down in the dirt at his feet and grinned up at her groom.

The ceremony was simple, yet grand in this special place.  The bride glowed and the groom looked pleased and proud.  It was a first marriage for both of them, now in their forties.  The opportunity to provide a time of celebration is rare for me in my work with Side-By-Side, but each happy occasion energizes me in this valuable work with the homeless.  Don’t we all live for those special moments that we treasure forever?

-Rev. Linda Kelly-Baker