"Playing Dress Up" Ode to a Friend

An amazing friendship would begin on the shore of this beach.  Elizabeth and I would converse on many topics.  We could, also, sit comfortably in silence as our cherubs built castles and splashed in fresh waters.

Playing dress up would become the most prevalent component to the joining of our families.  Hours of childhood were spent steeped in imagination. One outfit blended to the next. There was a gorgeous flow to the way it all worked. 

  

Birthday parties found us celebrating the years.  We marveled as our daughters grew.  We would discuss, commune, and draw comfort in the other. There was a promise of future.

My dear friend, Elizabeth, would be taken from all of us in the late fall of 1994.  A loss that remains and has never resolved into acceptance. However, I have been given the gift of experiencing a continued relationship with my surrogate daughters. On August 10, 2013, I would sit privileged to witness the most ultimate dress up of all.

It is hard to explain how my heart felt.  Elizabeth was so present.  There was a deep sense of her sparkle in the church.  A knowing of her smile that warmed us. The congregation was captured and suspended in this magical ceremony.  

The bride lit a candle in recognition of a mother ever present.

The father spoke in joyful celebration

The uncle immersed us in glorious melody.

The sister sparkled with every life moment culminating to the here and now.

 There were moments of consideration.

 And wonderful moments of levity.

 We rejoice in the knowing that love is kind.

 The evening reception commenced. Our hearts united in spirit.