The Wedding

Sunday, June 25, 5:00 p.m. Tom and Anastasia are married. Only their parents, siblings, and nephew are present. How does one say that one's child's wedding was perfect without offending one's other children? Each child is unique, each wedding is unique, each wedding has been perfect. For Tom and Anastasia, this intimate gathering of two small families who had spent the past three days turning into one medium-sized family, was perfect.

. . . .

Anastasia looked like a princess; Tom was proud and radiant. In the setting of St. James's chapel, we were all close enough to see, to hear everything.

. . . .

Dana, the Pastor, seemed so happy to be part of our joy. During the premarital counseling, she had asked Tom and Anastasia to write each other letters, telling what they loved about each other. She asked them not to show the letters to each other, but rather to give them to her. She read excerpts from these letters as part of her homily.

. . . .

The groom's sister and the bride's brother each did a reading. Sherry read a beautiful passage from the Book of Tobit, an apocryphal text. Andrew's reading was a poem by e. e. cummings.

. . . .

The flowers, both decorating the chapel, and those carried or worn, were many different colors; they reminded me of the mixed bouquet that Honna had carried when Joe and I were married. The cellist played lovely Bach pieces. Everyone except Sam stayed awake.