For the first time in forever

The sun falls through the open window as if it wants to be witness of the happening in the bride’s room. At this moment, when three generations meet together, time seems to stop. The bride sits on her bed as the tears run down her face. Her young body leans weakly against her mother, searching for shelter in her despair. The mother kisses her daughter’s forehead and the grandfather places his wife’s wheelchair in front of the bride, seating himself on the other side of the bed, but still his wrinkled hand rests carefully on the fragile fingers of his beloved. A touch that seems incidental to anyone, but to him it meant everything. Everything in the world. As he softly lifts his grandchild’s chin, he smiles comforting and with a voice, still as deep and warm as in the good old days that reminds everyone of a long time ago when he was a young man in love, he begins to speak:

Your grandmother is the poetic one of us, I know. I am not that good with wise and poetic words, but as I sit here with my grandchild who is covered in tears and a white wedding veil, I want to tell you a story that will help you to make your vow to your beloved blissfully. So please listen carefully and please smile a little.

Your grandmother and I were about your age when we fell in love. We have known each other for a long time before, but it was the different paths we walked that brought us to love. Our different paths brought different fears with us. She was afraid that I was only in love with the feeling of love. I had lived in loneliness for years at that time and I was afraid that I would lose her in the stormy waters of her fast-running life. Her soul was caught by the winds of change, restless, far away from home. Not allowed to live the life she dreamed of, yet. Not allowed to be with me, yet. It broke her heart to see no future. It broke her heart as it broke mine into a thousand pieces like fragile glass, but still reflecting the tiny glimpses of light. I collected one of the tiny glimpses of light and placed it in the palm of her hands. A guidance. A lighthouse in the safe home haven of togetherness.

The grandfather looks tenderly into the eyes of his wife and seems to be lost in their memory for the blink of a moment, showing her his love and gratefulness, before he continued:

You may cannot imagine a future for you right now, dear grandchild, but when we walk down the aisle and I give you to the hands of your fair man, I will, by that, place a glimpse of light in the palm of your hands. Let your heart take courage. Worry not. The beginning of your beautiful dream becoming true is only one step ahead and…

His voice breaks off as his eyes fill with tears of happiness. His wife completes his sentences with a smile of grace as she had completed him so perfectly for their time of life together, holding on tight to his hand, breathing evenly in faith:

…for the first time in forever, the path of future being and the line to home, a home which you have found in this fair man’s loving heart, will lead you both into the same direction, together.