white ribbons on the breeze

My brother is getting married on Saturday. We're rallying the clan such as it is to go and stand in an orchard and watch him change his life forever. He's making the right choice and I am so happy to be able to stand with him as he does it.

It's easy to be pretty cynical about marriage these days. To think that there are cases where matrimony that is supposed to last a lifetime is clocked, almost literally, with an egg timer -- it's ridiculous. I wonder sometimes if anyone actually listens to the words they are saying. My brother is young. But he and his almost-wife and solid on the essentials and everything else is, quite simply, not essential.

I do not doubt that the two we will celebrate this week-end are very aware of what they are promising. They are each handing their life over to the other in the knowledge that it will be very well taken care of. This is the stuff of fairy tales -- not the fairy lights and ribbons in the trees, but the ever after. Even in the knowledge that you cannot guarentee that all the days will be happy, I know that this is their ever after.

I'll be smiling as I watch as the promises are made, a proud banner waving like white ribbons on the breeze.