The wedding was so beautiful and emotional and completely wonderful. The weather turned unseasonably gorgeous and sunny, after the fog had rolled predictably in around 5 pm. The guests began to arrive and take their seats on the beach, and the clouds parted and the entire coastline was bathed in late-afternoon splendor. Both sides of my mother's family were represented, my dad's nieces and a grand-niece came, the NA group who saved my nephew-the-groom's life a couple of years ago were all there at the No-Alcohol table, sane and sober.
Our childhood chum, daughter of my dad's oldest and dearest friend (may-he-rest-in-peace), the Federal Judge officiated. She had spoken at her own parents' funerals with nary a tear nor a quiver in her voice - but as she began the ceremony yesterday, she all but broke down, then apologized to the assembled and led the kids through the ritual.
Chuck and I sang All I Ask of You - and his voice thrilled me as ever, as it did the first time I heard him back in 1978... one of the great baritone voices in the royal line of Tibbett, Warren, Merrill - I kept my eyes glued to the sheet music, concentrating on the shapes of the note heads, the ink, the fibers of the paper, anything to keep my voice steady and my breath going in and out. I was so moved by this hopeful and confident intention of familial immortality.
I haven't seen my sister Tami so radiant and glowing and beautiful in so many years. And the wheel of Time rolls along, and the Old Ones die, and we are the Elders now, approaching twilight, and the next generation walks into a sunrise. How magical it all was. And gone in a breath. And where has the decade gone?
