Snapshots at a Wedding

14th August 2012 Tuesday

Snapshots at a wedding......

My sweet nephew and his beautiful bride standing at the altar in the church full of morning light - the church in Plymouth that my father helped to save from burning down during the war  -  saying their vows and smiling and smiling at each other like twin stars.....

Standing on the steps of the Guild Hall in the circle of my family waiting for the bride and groom to arrive..... our women -  bright birds of Paradise, their skirts swirling in the wind, our men alongside us -  dark suited storks holding champagne flutes....

and my little great nephew in the arms of his grandma playing with her necklace, his forehead burning with temperature......

Putting my hand on the firm round tummy of my neice and feeling her baby move inside her  - a tiny nudge, a dolphin wave from her safe warm world.....

Much later, when the sun has gone down, riding alone in a taxi, leaving my husband sleeping in the hotel, leaving my anger and guilt and grief behind, trusting he will be safe, going back to the music and the dancing at the wedding.....

‘You are a party girl, then,’ says the taxi driver. No. It’s just that I crave the dear company of my family - wanting to prolong this unique day that we we’ll never have again......

The day I realised that in the ending of how it has been with my husband something new can grow out of that darkness....like a baby coming....but not till she’s ripe.......