Part 10

"Calm down. Calm down. Oh god, I feel like I'm going to throw up. This suit is too tight, I can't breathe," you rant, while pacing back and forth. The waiting before the ceremony is torturous. Sitting silently with just your own thoughts to keep you company while your nervousness builds to the boiling point. "Hey man, are you alright? You don't look great. Pre-Wedding jitters? Want me to get you something? A drink maybe?" You turn quickly at the sound of the voice to see your Best Man standing in the door looking concerned. "Just relax. You're supposed to be happy today," he says. Hearing another voice calms you and after a moment to catch your breath you reply, "I know, I just really never imagined this day would come, and its all hitting me at once. Frankly, I'm scared. I don't know what our future will be like. I'm starting to realize there is still a lot I don't know about her, even after all the time we've spent together. I love her, I know that much." A smile creeps across his face as he replies, "It's that all that matters? You want to spend your life with her. What happens after that isn't important, no matter what its the life you chose and the two of you will see it though together. You have people who are there to help you along the way, and she loves you. Everything else is nothing compared to that. I've got to get back out there and help. Think about what I said." As he left his words began to sink in and tears rolled down your face, for the first time you felt like not only had you mad the right decision, you had been accepted and loved by everyone around you no matter your faults or insecurities. You had become part of something much bigger, something words could never hope to describe. In that moment you felt as though everyone around you shared your feelings and wanted nothing more than to help. "Of all the places for me to find serenity. Well, I suppose it's appropriate," you think to yourself. You are brought out of your thoughts when you hear a voice behind you say, "Sir, we're ready to begin the ceremony." You leave the room you had been waiting in and joined your friends and family. The room was bright and decorated in vivid colors with flowers arranged throughout and made for quite the stunning display. "Feeling any better?" your friend asks as you join him at the altar to await your soon to be bride. "My nervousness is slowly coming back, but it helped a lot. Thanks," you reply. You conversation is cut short as a Priest tells you the ceremony is about to begin. You are back at square one. You take deep breaths to try to calm yourself, but it does nothing to calm the pounding of your heart. You are short of breath, sweating, and feel like you are about to vomit. It feels to you like the flu. Your nerves are once again getting the better of you. "I hope I can keep it together though the ceremony," you think. You begin to get light-headed and as you do music starts to play and the doors swing open. The room is filled with light as a figure steps into view it's face concealed in light like an angel had descended upon your wedding. As the light fades from the divine figure you see your soon to be bride standing in its place looking every bit as radiant. A long white dress cut at her shoulder, her face veiled, and long gloves covering up to her forearms. An angel in white actually had descended upon your wedding: your bride. As she walked down the aisle, the world around you began to grow quiet. The music for her procession had grown dim and time seemed to slow down. You knew despite her veiled face that your eyes had met in that moment and she was smiling. Upon reaching the altar she grasps your hands and in that moment time stands still for you. No sounds nor motion around the two of you, nothing but the warm loving grip of her hand in yours. A moment passes and a faint murmur begins to creep its way into your ears. "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today..." It sounds so far away, but you know it's for the two of you. Another moment passes lost in your own world. "and in the presence of these witnesses do you vow that you will do everything in your power to make your love for her a growing part of your life? Will you continue to strengthen it from day-to-day and week to week with your best resources? Will you stand by her in sickness or in health, in poverty or in wealth, and will you shun all others and keep yourself to her alone as long as you both shall live?" With those words, your love's grasp tightens. This moment was the first in your life where you felt positive of the decisions you had made and knew exactly what to say. "I do." As you begin to drift back into your own world again and the murmur that had found its way in fades, you look deeply into your love's eyes transfixed in her loving gaze. The next voice to enter your world is the voice of your angel, "I do." Your heart skips a beat. This was all actually happening, a day you never thought would never come in your wildest dreams had finally been realized. In that moment, a boy walked up carrying something that, for the rest of your lives, will be very important to the two of you. A symbol of your bond with one another: your wedding rings. You take the ring and repeat the lines that you had memorized as you slipped the ring on your beloved's finger. "I give you this ring as a symbol of our vows, and with all that I am, and all that I have..." She grabs the other half of the pair and repeats the line in kind. Once again you drift away for a moment, overtaken with joy. The voice of the Priest once again rings out piercing the fog of your mind, "You may now kiss the bride." You take one last deep look into your love's eyes as she slowly closes them. You bring your lips down to meet hers and you share a kiss that you will never forget as long as you live. The kiss signaled the beginning of a new chapter in your lives, and a became a symbol of your love for all to see. As you pull your lips away from hers, she whispers to you the only words that were on either of your minds, "I love you."