Wedding Rings

November 3rd, 2004

Pictures of Aodan and Xander as ring bearers

On October 23rd Raven’s cousin Hans married Tina, whom we have all loved since she moved to Texas three years ago. It was a gorgeous wedding. Tina was beautiful.

Aodan and Xander did a great job as ring-bearers, bringing dignity to a job they took very seriously and I was so grateful to all of the adults who treated them with respect (not many 8 and 5 year olds like hearing how cute and adorable they are, even when, like my boys, they really are). In particular, Xander was very taken with the maid of honor, Ellen Sunshine, who took upon herself the task of instructing the boys in their march down the aisle.

And there were crowds of people there — Hans is the sort of person who inspires such loyalty from his friends that people he went to summer camp with will travel across the country to see him get married.

The extended family was harmonious for a weekend, nobody seemed unduly stressed, the site was lovely, and overall it was just wonderful to come together and celebrate the commitment these two people were making to each other.

My only nitpicking was with the little speech given by the guy marrying them when he told them that they would never feel cold again, because they were together, that they would never feel wet in the rain, that they’d (ok, paraphrasing but hopefully not too far off the mark) be immune to hunger, loneliness, sadness, and the basic diffiiculties of human existence. I understand not wanting to bless their marriage with a healthy dose of cynicism, but I also think unrealistic expectations might have a
little to do with the 50% divorce rate I am always hearing about…

I am not one to give anyone adivce on marriage. After almost nine years I think I have only just barely gotten the hang of it, and I don’t doubt that I am not easy to be married to. But I love marriage. It’s this amazing act of faith and hope to commit to someone and trust them and make your two lives into one life. I think it’s only just starting to sink in.

permalinkRead More CommentComments (1) CatMy kids

One Response to “Wedding Rings”

  1. Mark G. Says:
    June 1st, 2007 at 11:42 am

    Mara,

    It would seem that the acme for any generational cohort is nearer 41% and that rates of divorce are declining:

    http://www.divorcereform.org/nyt05.html

    That said, fewer of us are getting married and more of us are living in nontraditional households, so the demographics of the modern world are passing strange, to say the least, and getting stranger.

    All the best,
    Mark

Leave a Reply