Wedding Day
Well, as of today I have been officially married for the third time for twelve days.
How was it, you ask?
It was a glorious day.
The weather report for Marin was not promising as of the week before. I am convinced that at some point in the past four months I and six point eight million of my friends, neighbors and co workers were transported in a single night by space aliens to a location somewhere just north of Seattle.
Rain, in San Francisco in May? No way.
I am serious, I almost did a star fix just to prove that my current latitude was much farther north than it was just a year ago. Needless to say we sweated bullets all week, convinced that the beautiful ceremony on the lawn under a Chuppa was moving indoors.
Then, for reasons that I am sure have more to do with God's sense of humor than anything else, my Landlady from Austria showed up three days before to lead the attack on the mold (minor) and water problems in the house. She is a lovely lady, but having her and her home fix-it minions underfoot at T minus 72 hours had me caressing sword blades and contemplating the dark side of the force.
By Friday I had donned the breathing helmet and came close to dismembering one of the said minions, at which point the landlady, bless her heart, gave us a hug, a very nice gift and went off to visit a friend for a few days.
Dateline Saturday, May 7th, a day like all days, filled with the events that shape our time. I awake in a house full of my kids, each of us having a list provided by the Fiance, known in some circles as the "Project Manager" of items to bring and things to do. By 9:00 am we are showered, loaded, and off, stopping to get cash, bagels and coffee for the drive to Marin. Fiance and her family were already at the Inn where the Ceremony and reception were to occur. I am in the slot, in the grove, and wound tighter than a snare drum. Not worried, not nervous about the upcoming nuptials, but as is often the case, shifted by the proximity of critical events into full battle mode.
We made it to the Inn by 11:30, delivered the wine and unloaded stuff. The people at the Inn were very nice, but just a bit too casual for me, and is often the case, faced with unclear status and what I perceive as lackadaisical people, I began barking orders at anyone within earshot.
Things were gearing up to a right wonderful pitch.
Then, my Fiance's closest bay area friend came down, all sweetness and light and like the good fairy, started waving her magic wand, and things started to happen. The wine was put away, the rooms opened up, the car unloaded and the girls were sent off to be with the Bride and her female family and friends. My son came over to me and said "Dad, lets get a beer" and we walked off to the bar. A pint of good bitters later, I was sitting down and much calmer.
Whew.
When we stepped outside an hour later, the clouds had blown away and the day turned bright and warm and beautiful, with blue sky for a hundred miles in all directions. I walked to the beach with my future brother in laws and my son, we stood out there and talked for a while.
At 2:00 PM sharp, we did the run thru as the flower lady was setting up the Chuppa. Run through complete, we all retired to our respective rooms to get ready. I borrowed my son's room, and by 3:00 PM the family's were ready for the still photographs. The photographer had me stand at one end of the lawn with my back to Fiance so that he could catch the expression on my face when I first saw her in her wedding dress.
Breathtaking, she was beyond beautiful.
By 4:00, pictures were done, bride was back in the snug room, and I was on the lawn with my son to start greeting people as they showed up. As befits his sense of humor, he continued repeating, "hear we are again."
Kids. Can't live with them, can't sell them to the gypsies.
Guests trickled in, but by 4:55 every one was there and sitting in the bar, having a drink and getting ready for the big event. The mother of the bride was a bit nervous, clouds were moving back in and it was starting to look like rain again. The coordinator was a bit daft and indecisive, and one of the readers had not shown up. Things started to get a bit testy again, when the errant reader showed up right at 5:03. At 5:05, the preacher, son and I headed to the Chuppa, and that was the cue for everyone to come to the lawn. The music started, and the ceremony began.
We had written our own ceremony and vows, it had elements of Christian (me)and Jewish (her) tradition, as well as other things. The plan was for four readers. It was, I must say, a beautiful ceremony. Fiance had planned everything to a tee. We were married on a lawn in Marin, by the California coast, with our friends and family looking on, in a service that best expressed the depth of our love and commitment and joy.
The Reception was grand, eveyone had a great time. It was a blur, and too much to describe in detail. My new brother in law did the toast, then my friend Mike did a toast that was a bit of a roast and had us all laughing. The first dance that we had spend months learning went off with only a few hitches. One of the guests was an old Navy buddy of mine I had not seen in 20 years, and that reunion was just icing on the cake. One of our friends was swinging from the rafters, literally, and a whole crew ended up the evening in the bar playing darts. By 11:00 the guests had left to face a rainy drive home over a winding pacific coast road, and the family was ensconced in the snug room with a couple of bottles of wine, a fire and some good cheese to critique the day.
All in all, a perfect wedding.
Of course....
Fiance had planned everything, and every detail, except one thing. After the last reading, but before the pronouncement, breaking of the glass and kiss, I had a little surprise.
The Reverend turned to Fiance and said: "No bride likes a suprise on her wedding day, but we have one. Your new husband has written you a poem and has asked his friend, Mike to read it to you". Mike is the guy that is most responsible for our meeting, and one of my best friends.
Here is what he read:
Where were you?
I was looking everywhere for you, across oceans and deserts and the days that run into years too long to remember, except as a vague dream after a troubled and too busy night's sleep.
I knew you were out there, somewhere, that perfect mate for a soul longing to share life, that one woman that could fill perfectly that space in this one man meant only for her.
I looked, and I looked, oh I looked! Searching by sun and silver lamp, across mountains and cityscapes that glitter each night with bright promise.
Only to dim to cold morning's mundane despair.
I thought I found you once or twice, caught up in a moment of almost recognition, clinging to shadows that promised your touch, the beating of your heart full of love and life and joy for us both.
Phantoms they were, it was not you, and in folly I walked down paths best left un-trod, till in the end I came to believe that you did not exist, only an ideal that fills a poets fancy and nothing more, a vapor of words scribbled on scraps of paper, tossed out with other dreams that a man gives up as he becomes more of a man.
And then, one night, I found you.
Where were you?
It does not matter, for now we have found each other, and I know, as I have known from the first moment, that we had found..
Us.
Each night I thank God for the gift of you, and each day I am reminded, by you smile, by your laugh, by your touch.
What Joy really is.
Poets prattle, and a dictionary of words cannot say better to you that this.
You are my soul mate, I have waited a life time to find you.
I love you
And
I always will.
How was it, you ask?
It was a glorious day.
The weather report for Marin was not promising as of the week before. I am convinced that at some point in the past four months I and six point eight million of my friends, neighbors and co workers were transported in a single night by space aliens to a location somewhere just north of Seattle.
Rain, in San Francisco in May? No way.
I am serious, I almost did a star fix just to prove that my current latitude was much farther north than it was just a year ago. Needless to say we sweated bullets all week, convinced that the beautiful ceremony on the lawn under a Chuppa was moving indoors.
Then, for reasons that I am sure have more to do with God's sense of humor than anything else, my Landlady from Austria showed up three days before to lead the attack on the mold (minor) and water problems in the house. She is a lovely lady, but having her and her home fix-it minions underfoot at T minus 72 hours had me caressing sword blades and contemplating the dark side of the force.
By Friday I had donned the breathing helmet and came close to dismembering one of the said minions, at which point the landlady, bless her heart, gave us a hug, a very nice gift and went off to visit a friend for a few days.
Dateline Saturday, May 7th, a day like all days, filled with the events that shape our time. I awake in a house full of my kids, each of us having a list provided by the Fiance, known in some circles as the "Project Manager" of items to bring and things to do. By 9:00 am we are showered, loaded, and off, stopping to get cash, bagels and coffee for the drive to Marin. Fiance and her family were already at the Inn where the Ceremony and reception were to occur. I am in the slot, in the grove, and wound tighter than a snare drum. Not worried, not nervous about the upcoming nuptials, but as is often the case, shifted by the proximity of critical events into full battle mode.
We made it to the Inn by 11:30, delivered the wine and unloaded stuff. The people at the Inn were very nice, but just a bit too casual for me, and is often the case, faced with unclear status and what I perceive as lackadaisical people, I began barking orders at anyone within earshot.
Things were gearing up to a right wonderful pitch.
Then, my Fiance's closest bay area friend came down, all sweetness and light and like the good fairy, started waving her magic wand, and things started to happen. The wine was put away, the rooms opened up, the car unloaded and the girls were sent off to be with the Bride and her female family and friends. My son came over to me and said "Dad, lets get a beer" and we walked off to the bar. A pint of good bitters later, I was sitting down and much calmer.
Whew.
When we stepped outside an hour later, the clouds had blown away and the day turned bright and warm and beautiful, with blue sky for a hundred miles in all directions. I walked to the beach with my future brother in laws and my son, we stood out there and talked for a while.
At 2:00 PM sharp, we did the run thru as the flower lady was setting up the Chuppa. Run through complete, we all retired to our respective rooms to get ready. I borrowed my son's room, and by 3:00 PM the family's were ready for the still photographs. The photographer had me stand at one end of the lawn with my back to Fiance so that he could catch the expression on my face when I first saw her in her wedding dress.
Breathtaking, she was beyond beautiful.
By 4:00, pictures were done, bride was back in the snug room, and I was on the lawn with my son to start greeting people as they showed up. As befits his sense of humor, he continued repeating, "hear we are again."
Kids. Can't live with them, can't sell them to the gypsies.
Guests trickled in, but by 4:55 every one was there and sitting in the bar, having a drink and getting ready for the big event. The mother of the bride was a bit nervous, clouds were moving back in and it was starting to look like rain again. The coordinator was a bit daft and indecisive, and one of the readers had not shown up. Things started to get a bit testy again, when the errant reader showed up right at 5:03. At 5:05, the preacher, son and I headed to the Chuppa, and that was the cue for everyone to come to the lawn. The music started, and the ceremony began.
We had written our own ceremony and vows, it had elements of Christian (me)and Jewish (her) tradition, as well as other things. The plan was for four readers. It was, I must say, a beautiful ceremony. Fiance had planned everything to a tee. We were married on a lawn in Marin, by the California coast, with our friends and family looking on, in a service that best expressed the depth of our love and commitment and joy.
The Reception was grand, eveyone had a great time. It was a blur, and too much to describe in detail. My new brother in law did the toast, then my friend Mike did a toast that was a bit of a roast and had us all laughing. The first dance that we had spend months learning went off with only a few hitches. One of the guests was an old Navy buddy of mine I had not seen in 20 years, and that reunion was just icing on the cake. One of our friends was swinging from the rafters, literally, and a whole crew ended up the evening in the bar playing darts. By 11:00 the guests had left to face a rainy drive home over a winding pacific coast road, and the family was ensconced in the snug room with a couple of bottles of wine, a fire and some good cheese to critique the day.
All in all, a perfect wedding.
Of course....
Fiance had planned everything, and every detail, except one thing. After the last reading, but before the pronouncement, breaking of the glass and kiss, I had a little surprise.
The Reverend turned to Fiance and said: "No bride likes a suprise on her wedding day, but we have one. Your new husband has written you a poem and has asked his friend, Mike to read it to you". Mike is the guy that is most responsible for our meeting, and one of my best friends.
Here is what he read:
Where were you?
I was looking everywhere for you, across oceans and deserts and the days that run into years too long to remember, except as a vague dream after a troubled and too busy night's sleep.
I knew you were out there, somewhere, that perfect mate for a soul longing to share life, that one woman that could fill perfectly that space in this one man meant only for her.
I looked, and I looked, oh I looked! Searching by sun and silver lamp, across mountains and cityscapes that glitter each night with bright promise.
Only to dim to cold morning's mundane despair.
I thought I found you once or twice, caught up in a moment of almost recognition, clinging to shadows that promised your touch, the beating of your heart full of love and life and joy for us both.
Phantoms they were, it was not you, and in folly I walked down paths best left un-trod, till in the end I came to believe that you did not exist, only an ideal that fills a poets fancy and nothing more, a vapor of words scribbled on scraps of paper, tossed out with other dreams that a man gives up as he becomes more of a man.
And then, one night, I found you.
Where were you?
It does not matter, for now we have found each other, and I know, as I have known from the first moment, that we had found..
Us.
Each night I thank God for the gift of you, and each day I am reminded, by you smile, by your laugh, by your touch.
What Joy really is.
Poets prattle, and a dictionary of words cannot say better to you that this.
You are my soul mate, I have waited a life time to find you.
I love you
And
I always will.
posted by Maurice_Basilius at 5:10 PM
3 Comments:
Simply wonderful.
SHMOOPIE! Congratulations!
I had to read it after Clairebell commented on it.
Absolutely beautiful. There is hope for the male of the species.
I have to go plan some aspect of my wedding. (It's best to have it all planned out before you meet Mr. Right. Less work to do later.)
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