Monday, November 26, 2018

Standing in Her White Dress.


I keep thinking about a memory over and over, a moment in time from my early twenties. My cousin had gotten married earlier that day and of course there was a reception after. He is about two years older than me and I was really happy for him because he had found the sweetest and nicest young woman that you could ever meet. He always had some awkward thing about his personality, friends didn't always take him seriously. Now he would never be alone, someone would always be at his side, I thought we should all be so lucky.

 He was the baby in his family, his brothers and sister were older with a small gap between them. The wedding was very emotional I guess because they couldn't believe their baby brother was getting married. I remember my dad joking, "they all keep crying, what do they think she is going to do to him"!

 Finally the night came to an end and as we were leaving, we saw that the bride was standing alone in the yard. The best man had gone to get the car and in the excitement the groom went with him before the bride stepped out. My dad pulled up and rolled down the window asking, "oh no, he didn't get nervous, ran off and left you did he"? She laughed and said no that he went to get the car.  My father then said that we would wait with her until the groom returned.

 I remember her standing there in her snow white wedding dress, a contrast to the dark night, almost like a statement an artist would make with an art piece. A young woman about to start a life together with a young man but on this day she was having a moment she probably often dreamed about as a little girl. She had a big smile on her face, finally the car appeared, we said our goodbyes again and drove off giggling.

 Saturday I received a call telling me that she died suddenly from a heart attack, everyone is shocked. She leaves behind three kids and her husband (my cousin). Life makes no sense at times but if there is one thing I have learned, it's better not to try and make sense out of something senseless. We were not close, over the years cousins with their own families drift in different directions and so I had not seen much of them lately. Time slips by so fast, it feels like only a few years ago that they were married, it's shocking to me that she is gone, I can't help thinking of her, standing alone in the yard, her white dress glowing in the darkness.

10 comments:

Old Lurker said...

Yikes. That's terrible news.

Debra She Who Seeks said...

What a lovely memory to spring into your mind at such a sad time -- forever young, beautiful and happy in her snow white wedding gown.

Christina said...

We all plod along and then, Bam!
Life is very precious and the line between life and death is a very fine one.
All we can do is live the best life we can. It's easy to get bogged down in everyday stuff.

Hold on to the memory of her in her white dress. She was so happy on her wedding day.

Sending condolences to you, Steven.

Sixpence Notthewiser said...

That's a lovely memory. And that's how you should remember her....

anne marie in philly said...

one never knows the impact a person has on their life.

Bob said...

I agree with Sixpence; that was such a lovely, definitive memory and that'show she should always appear in your mind.

Deedles said...

Sad and beautiful at the same time.

Richard said...

What a beautiful remembrance! Please accept my sincere condolences for your loss.

Ur-spo said...

Indeed a sad event.

Sooo-this-is-me said...

It's these sad events that keep happening over and over to the people in my age group that make me feel melancholy about my age.