Weddings...

There has been a flurry of wedding activities these past 12 months or so; with many of our church kids, now grown up, getting married. And so it was with great joy that we witnessed yet another one over the weekend, this one particularly even so.

And this is also the first time Other Half and I actually attended dinners from both the bride and groom. 8) Started off with dinner on Friday from the bride's side. Both Other Half and I felt like 'ancients' at a table of young adults... how time has flown. But we enjoyed ourselves. Dinner conversation was relaxed, fun and we had lots of laughs, basically with the kind of energy that one can expect when one is with the young people! Karyn gave a heartwarming speech to the bride... and of course the groom too.

This was followed by the church wedding and dinner from the groom's side the next day. Am happy for both MY and BP; MY especially since I've more or less watched her blossom into the person she is today; though she is her own person, I still see bits of her mom in her. Eow Sim would be very happy.

Weddings, I think are one of those few events in life which I feel have a way of profoundly affecting me; I think probably on many of us generally. The joining of 2 lives, the journey that they'll make, the commitment, friendship, patches of highs and lows, kids, pain, joy...; it generally sums up a good many parts of life's facets.

When you see the soon-to-be minted couple making their vows, it will always somehow remind you your own vows, or perhaps even remind you of those days, long ago, or even if not that long, that warm feeling that you feel yourself or seeing the glow in the faces of the bride and groom. Sharing a wedding is also a reminder of the greater possibilities, with someone there rooting for us.

In days of old, marriage was used as a tool to form alliance. The Bible refers to the Church as the bride and Christ's sacrifice on the Cross for the Church. I've begun to understand this allegory better. A good marriage is I think the closest thing on this side of the divide where it is possible to see an almost complete willingness to sacrifice oneself for one's spouse; an alliance to something better, hope of better things to come.

A weekend filled with reminders that life is about the people around us... no matter what shortcomings we each might have; life is more meaningful when shared.