There was a time in my life when I used to think about marriage as an end to freedom. How foolish I once was. What a tarnished perspective on union. I've changed, progressed, and matured. This past weekend I watched a brother take the woman of his dreams into marriage. I was a passenger, figuratively and literally, on the boat ride out of friendship into fusion. I watched the fusion of two souls becoming one. I watched a brother raise his glass in celebration of a long hard road of ups and downs. I watched tears fall because of sadness and joy. Over the years and through the engagement I watch this man cry tears of hurt, smile smiles of pure infatuation, and toss and turn through nights of wonder and hope. I sat on this boat believing in love's ability to answer prayers because I watch the calm in his eyes and the eagerness in hers. Marriage might be an end to freedom but I recognize that it is also paradoxically the beginning of loving servitude, the most beautiful of all contradictions.
Richard just finished making room for a woman. We use to stay up some nights in our adolescents describing the women of our dreams. We would share his twin bed, crammed and sometimes head spinning from a few beers. We would share complaints and wishes about that one, her, yeah that other one, and her too. We would make our lists of who we wanted to be with most. I watched this unfold for real, in one of the most beautiful places in the world, on a boat, the beach, and among family. When you want the best for people you love it looks like a fantasy. I couldn't have painted this experience for my brother, only participate, but the love that pours from his heart is so deserving of the perfect experience her father was able to create for them, and it was a fantasy come true, a fairy tail with an ending that doesn't matter. I watched how to make room for a woman.
Good bye to a companion. His priority is now his wife, and I have come to terms with having to face the rest of my journey without my compa. He is now a soldier in her army, helping fight their battles. He is obviously not gone but in a way he is completely gone. I am so happy for him, so proud of the man he has learned to be for himself and for her, and I am grateful for the influence he has in my life. Tanya is a lucky woman because Richard is an advocate for happiness and he has a special way of finding the blessings in situations, people, and mistakes. Richard I love you, and it has been an honor sailing these waters with you by my side. Go and get your new coordinates and sail that vessel with the peace and prosperity you've shared with me. Vaya con Dios, mi amigo!
There was a time in my life when I used to think about marriage as an end to freedom. How foolish I once was. What a tarnished perspective on union. I've changed, progressed, and matured. This past weekend I watched a brother take the woman of his dreams into marriage. I was a passenger, figuratively and literally, on the boat ride out of friendship into fusion. I watched the fusion of two souls becoming one. I watched a brother raise his glass in celebration of a long hard road of ups and downs. I watched tears fall because of sadness and joy. Over the years and through the engagement I watch this man cry tears of hurt, smile smiles of pure infatuation, and toss and turn through nights of wonder and hope. I sat on this boat believing in love's ability to answer prayers because I watch the calm in his eyes and the eagerness in hers. Marriage might be an end to freedom but I recognize that it is also paradoxically the beginning of loving servitude, the most beautiful of all contradictions.
Richard just finished making room for a woman. We use to stay up some nights in our adolescents describing the women of our dreams. We would share his twin bed, crammed and sometimes head spinning from a few beers. We would share complaints and wishes about that one, her, yeah that other one, and her too. We would make our lists of who we wanted to be with most. I watched this unfold for real, in one of the most beautiful places in the world, on a boat, the beach, and among family. When you want the best for people you love it looks like a fantasy. I couldn't have painted this experience for my brother, only participate, but the love that pours from his heart is so deserving of the perfect experience her father was able to create for them, and it was a fantasy come true, a fairy tail with an ending that doesn't matter. I watched how to make room for a woman.
