Go 4th

About the Book

Father of the Bride - that’s me.

This all started with an idea Dennis had.  Pat, my wife, has always been a big fan of the movie “Father of the Bride” with Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor.  Now that our daughter Carolyn is engaged to be married, we anticipate the excitement, joy and chaos of this period leading up to the wedding day.  It is all so new for us since this is our first and only child to be married.  We, of course, enjoyed talking about the engagement and the forthcoming events.  Early on a warm spring day in March, as Pat and I were having our morning chat on the front lawn with our neighbor, Dennis Neuberger, Pat was explaining how much trouble she was having in trying to rent a copy of the old movie.  The movie rental stores in our neighborhood only had the newer version of the movie with Steve Martin.  While I think he is very good in the part, Pat insists that Spencer Tracy defined the role and no one can come close to duplicating it.  Dennis occasionally liked to present alternative views.

“Well, we’ll get the movie camera out now,” Dennis said.  “We’ll begin taking pictures of Jim as he goes through the Father of the Bride activities for the next year.”

Of course, we all laughed at the idea.  It’s always interesting to take the germ of an idea, like filming me as another Father of the Bride, extrapolate it and see where you go with it.  Unfortunately, and for a lot of reasons, we never really get off the dime to do it.  But, that’s part of the fun of day dreaming and wild speculation.  We all can do it, it cost nothing and it takes us on some fascinating trips.

Since that day in March, I’ve been kicking around an alternative to Dennis’ idea.  While it would be fascinating to try a movie, we ain’t Hollywood.  And movies are rarely exciting or interesting if they represent a documentary.

Instead, a book, a story, a record could be created.  Not so much a diary and not about me either - that’s the last thing I would want to write about.  My idea is to write a journal about the journey (of course! what else is a journal about) of Carolyn and Kevin - he’s the fiancé.  When the wedding day is finally over, what do they have left?  Memories of the journey are initially abundant.  The photos and video of the wedding day will be looked at for the first few months.  These pictures are only of the one-hour in the church, one hour of the cocktails, and 4 hours of the reception.  So hopefully, this description of the journey will be a much broader and detailed picture of the events and joys and troubles leading up to the wedding day.  Plus, there is nothing more concrete and definitive as the printed word.  The days and months preceding a wedding are a particularly unique period in a couple’s life.  There are typically so few responsibilities and problems, in comparison to what can occur later.  There is great anticipation and preparation.  There are decisions to be made which are once in a lifetime decisions.

Who am I to write this journal?  Valid question.  No, I am not a professional writer, obviously, but I am Irish.  That in itself says I have buzzed about the borders of BS.  Like many Irishmen, I have a love for the language, and for how a thought or idea can be formulated and wrapped and decorated with phrases, mixed with a wee bit of blarney and presented as the ever-loving truth.  I fondly recall all the many occasions where I have developed a phrase or two and then presented it, believing that the combination of words had never been uttered before by anyone.  That’s thoroughly enjoyable, at least for me.  For as Pat says, when I do come out with these expressions, I always laugh more than anyone else does.  

About the Author

Jim Durkin is married and the father of one daughter. He has worked in the development of computer business applications for more than 30 years, back to when computers were large machines understood by few people compared to the current PC popularity. While writing this journal is a departure from his career background, his love of the language, his Irish roots, his near death experience and his love for his daughter provided him with the incentives to develop his first book, Go 4th, Journey to a Celebration. Upon the engagement of his daughter, Carolyn, he, as Father of the Bride, decided to use this one time opportunity to record the wedding preparation events, as he saw them, which would culminate with the grand celebration on July 4th.