Destination Wedding Preperation

I saw a cardinal when I was packing our car this morning. It was sitting on the garage, eyeing my white mug. “It’s just coffee,” I told him, as I looked at our car, spitting wedding decorations out the back door. This vessel was not intended for carrying such large loads, of that I am sure. I look back to see the cardinal, but it has flown away. I smile, although I wish it had stayed longer. As a child, I used to believe cardinals had a superstitious power to change the energy of my day. My parents would call me from my bedroom where I was playing, telling me to “hurry, there’s a cardinal outside.” I would run down the stairs and stare out the window. It’s going to be a good day, I would think. Superstitions run deep after years of believing in them. Seeing a cardinal this morning, I still feel that way: it’s going to be a good day.

The sun is trying to come out from behind the rain clouds where it has been held hostage for the past three days. The cocker spaniel next door has retired inside, nose wet from smelling the concrete all morning.  Do dogs, like humans, find comfort from the scent of rain, I wonder? But even he has tired from the rain puddles and I no longer feel comfort from the rain with only two days until my wedding. For the first time in my life, I am longing for the weather man to be right. I know in this deep core of myself our wedding day will have sunshine. Somethings in life, you just know…like a good cup of coffee, or a man you want to marry.

I sit outside, waiting for my friend, Crissy, to bring her car to fill with more wedding decor. It takes a village to plan a wedding. I watch our neighbors come and go. I hear wind through the oak trees leaves, high above the porch where I sit. I feel calm. The pain from clenching my jaw has released. The stress from the past two weeks has passed and everything from here on out is simply the result of love and good planning (I hope).

This morning, there was a message on my Facebook wall from the professor, whose class Sean and I shared that semester years ago. Again, I am brought back to the reality of the path we have walked and what we have worked for all of these years. Like the cardinal, her watching from afar makes me smile and I think again, yes, this will be a very good day.