I attended a wedding on Saturday. A wedding of a most beautiful bride. It made me remember everything I’ve ever loved and heard about weddings, ever since I was little.
I met the bride while we were both in high school, and we met up again years later in college. She has always been sincere and gentle and sweet. After college she discerned religious life and entered a convent. I remember her talking about discernment: that sometimes you’ll check out a religious order or hang out with a guy and you’ll know that they’re a WONDERFUL order or a GREAT guy…but you’ll also know that they’re not for you. And so you must walk away and keep looking. Isn’t that beautiful advice?
I remember standing in her living room on the night before she left for the convent, packing her carry-on. Three pairs of shoes. An extra habit. I believe there was a toothbrush.
I sat on a park bench with her one evening when she came back. I lent her my sweater and she talked about what she had learned, how God had worked, where she would go now.
A few months later, at the Snowball, she squeezed both of my arms with sparkling eyes and introduced me to a new friend, a man.
The Snowball after she returned my sweater. A few months later, I received an invite in the mail–an invite to her wedding…with the man she introduced me to at the Snowball.
So I attended her beautiful wedding. I attended and prayed and sang and danced.
And she was beautiful. Always has been. She glowed with love and generosity.
I ended up at a table with extraordinary men and women–all single and either professional or studying. We had the guy studying to be a pediatrician, the woman studying to be a neurosurgeon, the man finishing his PhD in philosophy. I seriously don’t know how I ended up at the over-acheiver’s table.
And then, later, when I hugged the bride, she smiled and said, “So, did you meet anyone special at your table?” with a knowing smile and I knew she strategically planned that number.
But, isn’t that kind? To plan for guests with love in mind? And she had around three hundred guests! And I know she treated all of them with that kind of care…on her day, too.
She is a treasure. And her husband is one lucky man.
