A symbol of life and renewal
"In our tradition, celebration of life is more important than mourning over the dead. When a wedding procession encounters a funeral procession in the street, the mourners must halt so as to allow the wedding party to proceed. Surely you know what respect we show our dead, but a wedding, a symbol of life and renewal, a symbol of promise too, takes precedence."
-Elie Wiesel (thanks to Meg for reminding me of this passage.)
As we get closer and closer to our wedding day (23 days, the countdown says), reminders of those we've lost this summer are constant. The task of deleting two names from the guest list. A stamped and addressed but unsent shower thank you note. A call to the florist to change two corsages into a memorial arrangement. The list of family photos to capture. We try not to dwell on these things, but they're there. The above bit from Mr. Wiesel is a good reminder of the focus and purpose behind the wedding celebration-- a celebration of life. Ours lives, the lives of our guests, the lives of those who won't be with us, but who left us with so much. And I promise you, we are all ready for a good celebration.
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Now you made me cry... What we are going through is not so tough, what I couldn't say on my own site is that we're dealing with the very sudden divorce of our best friends, two people we were going to ask to hold our chuppah (among other honors) as a symbolic support of a happily married couple of our new marriage. It's not even a tiny fraction as devastating as death, but it really gives you a feeling of deep confusion as you plan your own marriage. So, thank you for sharing all this. It helped. It always helps to feel less alone.