Love in bloom

Our daughter's bridal shower was last Saturday. It was a joy to see the different sides of the bride and groom's families, and their various friend groups cheerfully mixing and getting to know one another. And baby Harper was the hit of the party, padding around laughing and pointing like a little tipsy person in her fire engine red sandals, thoroughly entertaining and entertained. 

My lovely daughter in law was my partner in pulling off this endeavor, and she was absolutely the MVP—making the signs, coming up with games, and getting the game cards printed at Staples from a template she found on Etsy and customized. She also created a beautiful floral ring for a photo backdrop; she worked out the design in her living room, then she and my son carefully dissembled it and transported it to the venue. Meanwhile my nieces and son helped hang photo garlands and laid out a fabulous charcuterie grazing table while my girl’s in laws to be brought deviled eggs, a yummy pasta salad, and the cake from upstate. Suffice it to say, a lot of folks contributed. 

We did the shower in rooms next to the roof deck of the apartment building where my daughter and her fiancé live. The theme of the event was “Love is in Bloom,” and we had buckets of flowers and greenery as well as an array of antique style bud vases that guests could use to make their own DIY bouquets to take home. I loved seeing everyone selecting their blooms and happily making their floral arrangements. It was the perfect bridal shower activity, and the buckets of flowers were festive!

I'm wrangling low level anxiety today, the sort that is a tangle of worries, none of them perfectly clear, just a looming sense of unease, which might very well be chemical or else based on imaginings rather than anything real. I'm absorbing the sorrows of the world again, it feels as if I have no protective outer membrane. I plan to just stay close to home today and try to distract myself from thinking/brooding on things that may just be life inexorably happening. What must it be like to have a quiet mind, as my husband does? What must it feel like to walk through the days with a settled heart. I’m reminded of the movie The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, in which a character declares, "Everything will be alright in the end, and if it is not alright, it is not yet the end." I'm here, my friends, trying to trust that as I concentrate on drawing full breaths. 

My niece Leisa told my daughter that even though she is sad about losing Munch, especially in the way he died, she should still allow herself to feel happy, because she is getting married to her love, and this is also a joyful time. There it is again, the trick of holding two competing truths and allowing them both to be fully what they are. My daughter seemed to manage this on Saturday. She enjoyed her shower and her beloved did too. She told everyone gathered that they were “feeling the love." And truly, to me, she was pure light. Here are more pictures.