A married woman

My new husband and me, with our Pastor Michael B., right after the ceremony.


Here we are, celebrating our third (week) anniversary.

It's been good. Now, we're on a slightly delayed honeymoon trip, on our way to the Florida Keys. We drove down yesterday evening, and stopped in Miramar (near Fort Lauderdale) for the night. We'll get into the Keys and our rental condo in Islamorada this afternoon,

My husband, being the good workaholic lawyer he is, is responding to some correspondence on his laptop, as I type on mine. But he's doing that after going to the hotel breakfast bar and getting us coffee. What a good man.

The wedding was beautiful. I don't think that's just my bias; so many people told me it was the most beautiful wedding they've ever been to. Most of the credit goes to our pastor, the brides-peeps (hate the word "matron") and other friends who decorated the church, our friend Rog Lee who sang for us during the wedding, Roy, who played a trumpet duet with the church organist for the recessional, and all the people.

The church was chock full of friends and family. That was the best part.

The first reading was Song of Solomon 2:10-13 and 8:6-7
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
6 Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy[a] unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.[b]
7 Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of one’s house for love,
it[c] would be utterly scorned.

Our pastor preached on it, talking about timing — now, the timing is right; the time has come.

The passage is so meaningful on so many levels.

It literally was and is spring in Florida, after a cold winter, with trees budding, wildflowers blooming, and vegetables sprouting.


The orange blossoms in my bouquet, on the altar, and decorating the pews, gave off their intoxicating, sweet fragrance, the classic fragrance of spring in Florida. Friends and I gathered them the day before at a local orange grove, whose owner generously let us cut orange branches, kumquats and ferns.

The weather was perfect on our wedding day: sunny, and with a high in the low 80s, and with a gentle springtime breeze.

I've been through a winter of the soul, and I believe, so has my beloved. After so many years of being alone — for both of us — this is a new spring, a new beginning, a new life.

And, it's good.