So to begin with, I don't know the groom and really don't know the bride. She is my niece, the only child of my oldest brother, Bob and his wife, Sarah. They live in New Zealand. New Zealand is a country in the Southern Hemisphere near Australia but not part of it though a billion, zillion years ago, it was. But that was before we named any of the land masses. Anyway, my brother was a Marine guard for the American Embassy in New Zealand. He fell in love, moved back to New Zealand to woo Sarah. It worked, she married him and he had the good sense to stay in Wellington. He has been there for thirtyish years. And, New Zealand is a first world country, no shots required to visit. There aren't kangaroos or koalas there, unless they are in the zoo and they do speak English and Maori, but let's not get into that.
Atareta is twenty three. She attended my wedding so it only seemed fair that I attend hers. She was in her mom's belly at the time, but was there, none the less. In her twenty three years, I have seen her all of five times, the wedding being the fifth. We are Facebook friends so I know how cute she is, but I don't know her and man, I wish I did because I am quite certain that she is amazing.
And Steve, I don't know him at all. I am beginning to think he is quite amazing as well.
So here we are in New Zealand for the wedding. Danny, Jacob and I along with my sister, Cris and her husband, Duncan. It has become a family affair on that Friday with the men folk helping set up the reception hall. It turns out my husband is a hell of a flower arranger and punch maker. Cris and I stayed home to decorate the cake. Jacob slept on the couch with the dogs. That may not seem like much, but keeping the four dogs asleep while we decorated was a job well done!
So the wedding hall and reception hall were decorated to reflect the bride and groom. I have always been a fan of church weddings, but this hall decorated with empty beer bottle vases filled with flowers from Sarah's yard was beautiful in such a understated way. It was not some long ago architect's idea of reverence, but their own. And I have always said that it was important to have God in the wedding ceremony and blah blah blah, but I take that back as well. There was no reading from the bible, but instead, a reading from A.A. Milne and though it was a conversation between a stuffed bear and toy pig, it perfectly expressed what love, friendship and marriage should be about. And Steve's mom read it standing between them. She, being from Great Britain, had the perfect voice for that reading. A Yank would have ruined it! I don't know what Ata and Steve's religious beliefs are, but in that room on that day between the two of them there was something indescribable and oh, so beautiful. That wedding was all theirs, as it should be. Did I mention that Barney the dog was ring bearer. The pianist was a friend of the couple and the celebrant had known Ata for years.
So, as I said, I don't know this newly married couple beyond the few conversations that I had with them over our stay. I know they are head over heels for each other- that is obvious in the way that they look at each other, especially when the other doesn't know it. I know that Steve may or may not be a hipster. I know that Ata was very nervous as her beloved was strapped into the SWOOP gear. I knew that look on her face quite well. I would like to think I have learned to hide it when my own beloved was being strapped into the BUNGY gear. Though my love is twenty four years older, I have not lost that feeling.
I hope, through Facebook and such, that I get to know these two better. I hope that our home is a stop on their tour of the States. I hope that Danny and I are a positive example of captain and navigator (Danny is both, I would crash the ship while getting us lost). He would steer us in the right direction while arranging flowers. I hope that when my own get married, they don't listen to what is expected of them and create a day that they expect for themselves. And I hope that Danny still looks at me the way Steve looks at Ata and I hope that Ata knows how lucky she is as I know how lucky I am.
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