Kathy and I spent Friday and Saturday in Chicago for the wedding of her second cousin, Tim Marler, to a lovely young woman named Jennifer. It was a wonderful and exciting two days, although one bit of excitement was not so wonderful. As we finished up the rehearsal Friday night and were about to depart for the rehearsal dinner, we could hear Mother Nature brewing up yet another thunderstorm. (We had already suffered through two nasty storms back home Thursday night and Friday this morning, so this was all too familiar.) We heard rain coming down for a couple of minutes when a HUGE wind suddenly began blowing – as instantly as if someone had turned on a gigantic wind machine. And within a few moments we heard a big cracking sound and some of us even saw a dark shadow pass across one of the stain glass windows. Foolishly, some of us ran toward the windows (the last thing one should do in the midst of such a wind storm) to take a look – especially when we heard someone say “O no! Whose car is that?!?” And sure enough – a really large limb (or was it actually two) had crashed into the parked car of someone in the bridal party. (The limb was so large that it blocked the street completely.) And as we all made our way out of the church and to our respective automobiles, we saw big limbs down all over the place – including a large one that fell two cars behind ours. That moment was a perfect demonstration of just how capricious such events are – and of how completely vulnerable one is to such misfortune.
And as we made our way to the nearby restaurant where the rehearsal dinner was happening, my wife actually abandoned her first parking space in favor of another one that had no big trees near it. . . although we were disconcertingly close to a utility pole which would have done even worse damage if Mother Nature had sent it crashing down on our car. (Walking through pouring rain was the least of our worries at that moment – We were all just hoping that we had seen the last of that awful wind.)
One nice moment in the wake of the storm . . . After the rehearsal dinner, best man Kevin Marler rose to say a few words – and he very eloquently praised his brother and his fiancee for rolling with the punches so graciously and with such good humor. And he’s right- the world is full of self- centered Bridezillas who would have gone ballistic or been inconsolable over such a nasty complication in the proceedings. But no- Jennifer and Tim kept smiling through it all (even while doing whatever they could to help their friend whose car had been damaged) and Kevin suggested that this was a very good sign of what their married life would be like. Because the fact of the matter is that life is bound to include some downed tree limbs and dented hoods and frantic dashes through pouring rain (or their equivalent) and it’s our ability to smile in the face of such moments – rather than avoiding such moments – that is the real difference between a happy and an unhappy life. And if Friday night is any indication, Jennifer and Tim will be tasting exceptionally rich and lasting happiness in their life together.