Some of us here at Avalon write romance, so naturally we love a good love story. Recently I hosted a wedding shower in my home for the daughter of one of my neighbors. Giving a shower takes a lot of hard work, but all the work is worth it when you see the glow on the face of the soon-to-be bride.
On this particular Saturday I watched the bride-to-be and remembered how wonderful it felt to be in her place nearly forty years ago. Gulp. Did I actually write that big number? Is it possible to be married almost forty years? Even with that many years gone by, I can still remember the excitement and the anticipation of starting a new life with the man of my dreams. What would our future hold? Would there be children? Would we actually be compatible and be able to make our marriage work?
I guess I know the answers to those questions since we’ve made it together this long, but for the lady of honor last week and for all the young brides getting ready to take the next step, those questions are yet to be answered. The excitement and anticipation of the unknown makes a wedding emotional and hopeful, but it’s the working together of a couple throughout their marriage that makes that promise so beautiful.
In the romances that we write, we usually portray the couple before they’ve said their wedding vows. We let the reader see how they react to the obstacles that stand in their way, how they work through differences, and how they grow to accept one another along the way. In the end we bring them together in the hope of living happily ever after in our make-believe world. Just like in real life, we want our characters to be happy, but we have to make them work for that happiness or we don’t have a story that will get published.
In the end, both in real life and in our novels, we want a happily-ever-after romance that will bring tears of joy for couples who find the promise of love.
February is the month of love, but so is March, April, May and all the other months. Love is never ending. My wish for my neighbor’s daughter, for all the young brides this year, and for all our heroines we create is to find that love that lasts a lifetime.
4 comments:
I've recently read somewhere that our cultures tend to see the wedding as the wonderful culmination of everything good whereas other cultures (they were talking about India) see a wedding as the start, with many things to work out. The Indian way certainly has advantages . . . with all those expectations, it's hard to still feel great when reality hits. But you managed, and so have many others . . .and so we can continue to write our happy-end-stories without feeling like liars!
Yes, Beate, I too think the wedding should be the beginning. Young couples have so much to look forward to, but unfortunately that includes the "realities" that every marriage must face. Of course, the little bumps make the love stronger if they're worked through together.
Thanks for your comment.
Fran, I play at lots of weddings with my wind trio and I really enjoy them. Everyone's always so happy but we do wonder which couples have lasted the distance.
Sometimes the bride and groom are an older couple marrying for the second time and they are really special occasions, I think. It's lovely to see the children ( often adults) taking part in the service and welcoming the new person into the family.
I love both ideas - a wedding as a culmination and a wedding as a beginning - both are right. I send my best wishes to your young friend.
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