Twelve

It's been twelve years since that hot, hot August day.

The mercury read 30+ and his palms were extra sweaty.

We spent less than $6,000 to create our fairy tale...$60 went to a pile of fabric that my aunt so skillfully crafted into "the dress."  The one that started as a scribbled pencil sketch and ended up better than even I could have imagined.

There's something to be said for a garment sewn together with love.

I remember bits and pieces, details here and there...mostly I remember being surrounded by friends and family who loved us and had a part in shaping who we had become.

I was 26.  He was younger.  How on that day, when we were so young, could we have known enough to make that decision?  I mean, knowing what we know now, of course, but back then...

There's something to be said for a couple sewn together with LOVE.

Not mine or his, but HIS.

How else could two individuals so seamlessly become one?

No, not seamlessly...but beautifully nonetheless.  

Twelve years.  Twelve years of work, sweat and tears.  Maybe even some blood.

Today, twelve years later, we noted the date.  The week ended busy, we felt unprepared and there were no cards, no notes, no flowers or gifts.

But there was love.  Twelve years worth.

There's something to be said for twelve years worth of love.

Not just mine and his, but mine and his and HIS.  And ours.

And we picked berries and peeled potatoes and dressed kids and sat down and drank coffee long and lazy overlooking our backyard-ripe with fruit, ideas and projects to be done, and we talked.  About twelve years.  About the next twelve.

And in spite of the lack of pomp and circumstance, the absence of photographers and carefully crafted ambiance and staged celebration...

This day...so much more than that day twelve years ago...THIS DAY is the real Fairy Tale.

Because although we planned for 5 months for August 3, 2001, although we spent thousands of my parents' hard earned money and the lion-share of our time planning for that fleeting moment in history...

That day was just that: fleeting.

What's more...not one thing about that day; not its beautifully crafted decor, nor its carefully chosen menu, not even the lovely posed pictures that carry its memories had anything to do with what these twelve years would look like once we walked out the door of that church, waving goodbye, showered by sparklers that would leave their indelible marks on that dress...

That day was just a beginning.

A beginning of something that would someday become twelve years filled to overflowing with love, forgiveness, and an outpouring of GRACE.

And as always...
There's something to be said for Grace.