PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

 We attended our friends wedding 

and as part of the mood they wanted to create

they were married in a chapel…built in 1888.

What made their wedding even more special to us was…

when they arranged it they didn’t know

it’s the same chapel Deborah and I were married in

37 years ago. 

It was a different day…a different month

and for us…a different milestone…

a time when our children were still children…

now they have lives and families of their own.

But as I saw our friends walk down the aisle

and exchange vows…as happy as can be.

that moment 37 years ago 

came flooding back to me.

I saw us in this very chapel

with or friends an family seated in these pews

young and happy 37 years ago..as if it was brand new.

And for a moment…even though I know

we’ve both grown old and gray…

in the beauty of my memory it seemed like yesterday.

So I was doubly happy seated in the chapel

as our two wedding combined…

Their wedding we were attending…

and my wedding…in my mind.

I was as happy for them as I was for Deborah and me

knowing we are all forever a part of this chapel’s history.

A history of when we came together

Joined our hands…our souls…our hearts

Under the roof of this old chapel…

37 years apart.

We were lucky to be present when their love began.

and yesterday as we attended the wedding of our friends

Brian and Diane.

It was a beautiful wedding…the perfect size…not too big…not to small

In a 137 year old chapel…decorated in the soft and subtle colors of the Fall.

And I started thinking about colors as the ceremony unfurled…

how each one of us brings our own unique and varied colors to the world.

How our colors change a little every day…

and how when it comes to our family and friends

our colors complement each other…how easily they blend.

And how blessed we are…how amazed, how astonished and surprised 

when, like Diane and Brian…our colors harmonize.

It’s even more amazing…for Brian and Diane

on the day they celebrated becoming husband and wife.

because their colors harmonized so beautifully…

a little later on in life.

Because sometimes after waiting…and waiting…

then waiting some more

When you find the perfect blend……

It makes each one’s color much vibrant than before…

Which is what we witnessed yesterday…

with the wedding of our friends….

when their colors came together to make the perfect blend…

And we felt honored to share the moment with them…

to be captivated and enthralled…

In a chapel where their colors blended so perfectly

with the colors of the Fall.

The wedding ceremony was over…the reception was well on it’s way…

when the grandfather took the newlyweds aside whispering,

“There’s something I’d like to say.”

“You will always remember this moment over which your love has cast its spell…

but my advice is to make sure you enjoy all the little moments of love as well.

Huge moments like today are wonderful…worth savoring…as everybody knows…

but it’s the little moments spent together every day…where love is nurtured…

where love grows.

It’s how the touch a hand upon your cheek…

or a simple kiss can make your insides spin…

It’s holding hands so tightly you don’t know where your hand ends

and where the other hand begins…

It’s feeling how well you fit together in those moments you embrace…. 

feeling like every day you’ve won a prize.

It’s immediately knowing something’s wrong…

when you look into each other’s eyes.

It’s knowing what the other one is thinking…

It’s enduring all kinds of weather…

It’s accepting each other for you you are 

as you grow up and grow old together.

It’s how…when you close your eyes and think of each other…

It will always make you smile.

It’s remembering forever this day…the day you walked together down the aisle.

Finally it’s understanding your life together will have moments of sorrow

As well as moments of great joy and thrills….

It’s knowing every moment won’t be perfect…bus so many moments will.

So go and have a wonderfully happy life…

filled with huge moments like you’ve never seen….

while never forgetting to enjoy…

all the little moment in between.

 I co-officiated a three generation wedding yesterday…

My son Bryan co-officiated with me….

and since it was my grandsons wedding…

in terms of generations that makes three.

The wedding was at our cabin in the mountains…

still cherished by the Cherokee.

The bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome

The weather was as fine as it could be

I’ve been blessed to live a life…that has had less valleys and more peaks…

and to have made the kind of memories…as the Cherokee say:

speak out of my eyes and cascade down my cheeks.

Under a blue sky dappled with the colors of autumn It was a truly beautiful day… 

and I added a host more to an already wonderful array.

I’ll remember getting our cabin ready for the wedding…

Our son Ryan and his wife Amy…helped us to believe…

we could turn our driveway into a wedding chapel 

under the trees…with a carpet of fallen leaves.

I’ll remember one dog in a tuxedo…and another in a flowered lei.

I’ll remember Ali, our daughter and Damien’s Mom’s tears on his wedding day.

I’ll remember the faces of Trista and Damien…as they looked into each other’s eyes…

I’ll remember how Bryan helped to make them laugh…while I innocently made them cry.

I’ll remember all the people who came…how Sofia, Damien’s sister rang the wedding bell…

I’ll remember when it was over…thinking how everything went so well.

As I sit back now to write this poem…

I’m trying hard to remember everything…every detail that was important to me.

replaying them over and over again…so they will remain etched in my memory.

So years from now…when I think about this day…

when it’s this day’s memories I seek….

they will speak happily out of my eyes

as they cascade gently down my cheeks.