Wedding Day Bliss

Married Monday...

“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.”

― Elie Wiesel

Updates...

 

I got married.

Thanks A Little Something White for an amazing dress!

Hey - go on over to amyoes.com - I have some news... :)  (Maybe something about that...)

A bit more on that  topic...

 

It was a beautiful night - I still can't believe it's over.  I feel so lucky, in love, and blessed.  It did end up raining the entire night, but as my brother Matt so eloquently stated in his toast:

"Life's not about waiting for the storms to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain."
~Vivian Greene

 

Most importantly, we were surrounded by people we love.  The thing that left me the most tickled is that here we were with an opportunity to bring together people from all over the country, in one room to celebrate - people who without us, would never have gotten the chance to meet. 

Bruce Plotkin was an amazing photographer

And even if this is the only time these people ever get to interact, Brandon and I were responsible for igniting that spark - the fire that illuminates itself when recognized by another.

Because Brandon and I joined as husband and wife on Saturday, we've gained an army of family and friends.  It was so poignant to see our own "groups" mingle and dance the night away.  That is what marriage is - a union, a coming together, a celebration of every day life and all of the everyday moments to coming.  A wedding serves to make the ordinary sacred.  And every moment yesterday felt sacred, dear, rich, real and true.

Finally found the perfect father daughter dance - you can read about it HERE!

They say that the wedding day is just the beginning.  I think that's true, but it also marks a milestone in our relationship, that look at us, look at how far we've come, (I learned so much from being engaged for two years) and look at the people that care about us so much and want to celebrate with us.  A wedding closes the door on many things you'll never get back. 

 http://www.allspiceandacrylics.blogspot.com/2015/06/wedding-day-bliss.html
But it's different that the desolation I felt waking up from my coma, knowing I would never get back what I had lost.  This time, I immediately know all the gifts I will gain from this new venture.  After my coma, it took nearly a decade to feel the full and beautiful gifts of this detour in my life.

 

With marriage also, many of the gifts are yet to come.  Everyone says marriage is hard work, but it's the most amazing thing you'll ever have.  Everyone also says that Brandon and I make a relationship look so easy. 

It's easy to spend the rest of your life around someone who makes you involuntarily giddy at the sight, at the thought, at the sense that someone really knows you and loves who he knows.  And to know this all started because of a really awful surgery!  Making things happen for a reason isn't always easy.  It's hard to decipher what can be a springboard for something better, or a setback for worse - but if you frame it in a positive light, who knows what a little faith and resilience can do.

 

Anyway, I could blabber on about this, because I'm feeling.  But I won't.  Feeling, as I've written about before, took time, and is still a daily process.  Because of my own personal traumas, I've had to become quite numb. 

Now I am starting to feel the full spectrum of emotions - the loss I feel when thinking of my late grandmother (and the miracle of her I felt with me on Saturday), the sadness I feel reflecting on my "old" life, the frustration I feel when pondering my medical circumstances...but because I've committed to life and agreed to "feel" all of life, the good and bad, I also have the privilege of feeling the incredible highs.  Like last night.

Now what you REALLY care about...

Ana Parzych designed a beautiful and amazingly delicious cake!

Red is my lucky color...

So of course I had to have red shoes for the ceremony

(Go Aerosoles!)

And reception!  (Go ASICS!)

Did I mention I love red?

 

I do my one-woman show in red every time, and my wedding shouldn't be any different!

Gutless and Grateful...(and married.)

I may not have a stomach, but I should did eat like there was no tomorrow...

My art was everywhere, including the centerpieces!

 

Ruth Ridgeway was an amazing planner to work with...

For the table place settings, I made my customized inchies to put on each card - you can even get some of my inchies - customized to be whatever you like, of course, on my Etsy shop.

 

Creativity has saved my life so far, and this weekend, I got to use my creativity in quite a few ways.

My Jewish Faith is very important to me, so I took great care in fashioning my own mixed media chuppah...

And by the end of the night we were exhausted!

You can say it's luck that Brandon was the first guy I met online,  few 27 or so surgeries, and a long-gone stomach cannot keep me from being hungry for life, and for FOOD, for marriage, for food in my soul, in my heart, and all the soul-food to come. 

And looking ahead...

And now back to work!  I've got to start preparing for my artist reception ay Discovery Museum on July 26th.  (More info on that HERE.) You can even take a virtual tour HERE!

I'm also on Instagram now - look at that!
...and twitter :)

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

― Lao Tzu

There are names for what binds us:

strong forces, weak forces.

Look around, you can see them:

the skin that forms in a half-empty cup,

nails rusting into the places they join,

joints dovetailed on their own weight.

The way things stay so solidly

wherever they've been set down—

and gravity, scientists say, is weak.

And see how the flesh grows back

across a wound, with a great vehemence,

more strong

than the simple, untested surface before.

There's a name for it on horses,

when it comes back darker and raised: proud flesh,

as all flesh,

is proud of its wounds, wears them

as honors given out after battle,

small triumphs pinned to the chest—

And when two people have loved each other

see how it is like a

scar between their bodies,

stronger, darker, and proud;

how the black cord makes of them a single fabric

that nothing can tear or mend.