Weddings

Hello All:

I must tell you I had the privilege to attend a wedding this afternoon. A dear friend, a spectacular woman I have been lucky enough to be close with for the past ten-plus years, got married today. She and her new hubby have been dating for seven-plus years (I couldn't believe it had been that long). The reason I mention it is because, during that time, up until the wedding today, I had seen him exactly once. I would have thought I'd hung out with the boyfriend/fiancee/husband of a dear friend more than once. To be fair, the relationship between myself and my friend was largely conducted via telephone email, so I didn't see her all that often either. And at the wedding I find out that she is now moving to the big city I just left. Makes another excuse to visit!

It was a fine ceremony at a beautiful old church, perhaps fifty attendees from all over the globe (in fact, the maid of honor traveled in from London!) The reception was to be "light refreshments" following a noon wedding, but the refreshments were anything but light -- I certainly didn't go hungry, including a piece of the cake. As an aside, as is the tradition, the bride and groom feed each other cake after cutting the first piece, and in this case, they did so with forks. I heard a lady whisper to her husband, "Oh, good, they used forks. We didn't use forks." So I conducted an internal poll and determined that I think the tradition is cuter and more fun conducted by hand rather than by fork.

But I digress. Weddings always make me a little emotional. And while it's a very formal ceremony (typically), the sheer happiness that emanates from the event is what gets me every time. The happiness is nearly tangible: the couple being married and their beaming smiles; the onlookers "cheering" from the "rooting section", present to witness the event. It's difficult to describe, in fact, but I find weddings to be a very powerful and uplifting experience for me.

And it's not even necessarily being there. A good friend (and former co-worker) had some of his wedding photos in his office (including a very cute one which included his young godson). I told him how much I enjoyed those photos because I could feel the happiness just coming from those pictures. (Am I a romantic? Yep!) It all fills me with hope that someday I too will experience the joy of having found the one I love and get the chance to share that joy with all those in the "rooting section". Because that's not the fake smile you put on when Aunt Suzette wants to take a picture of you. That's a beaming smile that doesn't fade; that's an internal excitement from having found that special someone; it's a lasting joy. And that's a feeling that doesn't turn on and off like a light switch.

As for finding that special someone: as Steve Martin's character said in L.A. Story, one of my favorite films: "There's someone out there for everyone, even if you need a pickaxe, a compass, and night goggles to find them." Here, here.