The big day we've been waiting for, Younger Daughter's wedding, is upon us. My usually-eloquent dad, when he first greeted us that day in May, was reduced to one (doubled) word: "Happy happy!" And that really sums it up.
I've been granted the happy privilege of participating in the ceremony. I'll read the passage in Wallace Stegner's The Spectator Bird that guests at Sharon's and my wedding in '93 received, as a token to commemorate the occasion, on a small scroll.
“The truest vision of life I know is that bird… that flutters from the dark into a lighted hall, and after a while flutters out again into the dark… It is something--it can be everything--to have found a fellow bird with whom you can sit among the rafters while the drinking and boasting and reciting and fighting go on below; a fellow bird whom you can look after and find bugs and seeds for; one who will patch your bruises and straighten your ruffled feathers and mourn over your hurts when you accidentally fly into something you can't handle."
–Wallace Stegner, Spectator Bird
And then at the reception I'll deliver a toast, with a humble bit of advice gleaned from (of course) William James's "Reasoning" chapter of Principles of Psychology. "The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."
Happily married couples learn this.
Be wise and be happy, kids. Live long and prosper. 🎵Give a little, take a little... 🎵
Amor Vincit Omnia.
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