Wedding Among the Clouds

The day after daughter Katherine married Andy Lewis, atop Mt. Magazine, dawned sunny, blue-skied, cloudless.

The clouds had floated quietly away the evening before, shortly after the ceremony, expecting no thanks for the part they had played.  Exchanging swirling hugs and wispy high-fives, these wedding crashers beamed with pride.  After all, not just every couple, who marry on the top of a mountain, attract their attention. . . much less their attendance.

Word circulated throughout the Arkansas cloud community for days before the February 21st event, that an extraordinary couple was to be married on one of Mt. Magazine's Cameron Bluff overlooks.  Gossipy cirrus sisters spread details of the sunset wedding, as they flitted high above the Arkansas River Valley.  It was to be an intimate gathering of 16 ~ parents, grandmothers, brothers, sister, spouses, nieces and nephews, forming a semicircle behind the couple, a visible sign of love and support.  Respecting the beauty of the natural rock cliffs and evergreens,  Katherine and Andy planned no other decorations except white candles flickering inside glass vases and two bunches of white roses, hydrangeas and tulips mingled with stems of red holly berries.

The clouds offered a simple gift to the couple, a gift to match the quiet simplicity of their ceremony and the depth of their commitment to each other. . . a pure white blanket to surround and encase them, to "honor and keep" them in an everlasting symbol of Nature's blessing.

  

As son, Jason, pronounced his blessing, "May the peace of the Lord be always with you," and we responded, "And, also, with you,"

the clouds stepped aside allowing the setting sun to peek over the mountain, just in time. . .

to see Katherine and Andy introduced as wife and husband

 kiss 

and beam with happiness.

    

Happiness, as the clouds whispered before leaving, that will last a lifetime.