a wedding

last week, my cousin amanda married her boyfriend kelly. the wedding was such great fun--i mean, the actual ceremony--because her sister (who also happens to be my cousin) officiated the wedding, and because amanda and kelly are funny and laid back and happy and so obviously in love. there was giggling and outright laughter during the ceremony, and it felt like such a joyful lighthearted way to make the serious commitment that they are so obviously ready for. i love sitting at weddings where love is palpable and laughter and tears are plentiful, because it so readily recalls for me the joy of my own wedding day, david's and my thrill in making our own commitment, and the sweet memory of how young and naive we were as newlyweds.

the riverside wedding, officiated by a sister for a sister.


here they are, amanda and kelly, and my aunt chris and uncle al. (side note: i was a flower girl in chris and al's wedding as a little girl, and it was pretty magical for me, and they have always felt like a special aunt and uncle because of it.)


newlyweds smooching


but since david wasn't with me at the wedding last week, i sat with my sisters. anna came from california for the wedding weekend, and julia was there with her family. sitting so near my sisters is now such a rare privilege, since we all live so far apart, and it was definitely the highlight of my weekend. sitting there at the wedding and reception with and near my sisters, watching my cousin have a wedding officiated by her own sister, then being toasted into new marriage by her sister, all while keeping an eye on my own mother, seated at a nearby table laughing and chatting with all three of her sisters; there were so many sisters at that wedding, and i felt exquisitely lucky to be and to have sisters. no matter what time and distance and differences may do to us, my sisters anna and julia were there at my wedding, and i toasted them into their own new marriages. and some day, they will join me at the weddings of my own children. and in all the years in between, we will have ups and downs, laughs and tears. we will have adventures, and we will have water under the bridge. and we will always have each other.

my pretty sisters, my beautiful mom, and me

my mom and her sisters, and their baby brother

and here i am with my original clan, still some of my favorites in the whole world.