Just another day in Northern California

I was sitting at my local Starbucks with my daughter playing scrabble and drinking coffee, when it was her turn my attention wandered around the room. A couple sat with a woman at a table in the corner. I could catch bits and pieces of their conversations, the man in the corner sat with a clipboard, the woman a note pad. They seemed to be going down a list and discussing something point by point,
“And then you will break the plate?”
“No, were not going to break the plate, it is just not something you do over grass”

After several comments like this I realized, Oh, the couple is getting married. Having just been through a divorce this year my heart went out to the couple, so in between my turns I was now fully focused on listening to what they were going to do at their wedding. Marriage is such an incredible right of passage in a relationship, each couple determining what is the most important traditional element to focus on, which do they need to do, which do they want to do. The thing about this conversation was that the couple was so in tune with each other, when it seemed important to one the other would say “It’s up to you, this is important to you”, this conviction was going both ways, there was no fighting, bitterness or conflict. The woman who was not with the couple I had figured out at this point was a wedding planner, and I was thinking, how easy her job will be, this couple is so in love, so in tune with each other, their relationship was obviously leading towards a life commitment that could only be a beautiful extension of their lives together, a sharing and expression of their love for each other with their friends and family present for their union.

Wow, I smiled at the lucky couple as I walked by, wondering all the while where they would choose to fully commit to each other, especially now, since it is illegal for them to be married in California, at least for this committed couple.

Beauty is everywhere, do you choose to see it everywhere? Or does beauty have a set of rules in your life? If it does have rules, I am sorry for you as you miss so much the world has to offer.

To the couple in the corner at Starbucks, I wondered as I walked by if you knew I was thrilled for you, or if you assumed I was one of the short sighted people who fear your expressions of you feelings? I hope you find all your looking for, and keep spreading your caring for each other, without regard for the people who are walking around you with their blinders on.

STU -12/ 08