Why I Let My Dad “Give Me Away” At My Wedding

And Why I Wouldn’t Do it Again

Image: Courtesy author

I have a knotty relationship to this photograph, me and my dad at my wedding. His dark clothes and the peony in his pocket and the drug-store cane in his hand, the glowing satin creampuff of my dress, my hair parted and tucked, my veil like glittering mist. I remember the song that played, the sight of my then-fiancé in his gray suit…