A Favourite Story

One of my favourite pictures taken at our wedding this summer was a candid shot taken during the first dance. But the figures of my new husband and I enjoying this peaceful moment (accompanied by Etta James) is not why I love the picture. The background features a very clear shot of my mother and father, heads bent towards one another, deep in conversation.

My parents have been divorced now for about 10 years, after almost 30 years of marriage. Their current relationship is a difficult one to characterize; I suppose I might say that they are not quite friends, but nor is there anything in the way of active animosity. They really just let each other be, and that seems to work just fine. We were careful at the wedding to ensure that each parent had their own space and responsibility. My mom, an Anglican priest, performed our wedding ceremony; my dad walked me down the aisle and welcomed WH to the family at the reception. It was all moving and lovely. I am eternally grateful that both my mom and my dad approached the event, which could have been so stressful for either of them, with such grace.

It wasn't until some time after the wedding day itself that I found out what was said in the conversation so beautifully captured on film. My father asked my mother to dance. And she declined, but asked if he would sit it out with her. So he sat. And my mother looked at him and said, "Tell me something. Have you ever in your life seen anything as beautiful as our daughter?"

And my father said, "No."