"Witnessing Life-Long Love"

Several weeks ago, I mentioned the Love and Fidelity Network's essay contest. The winners have been selected, and the first and second place essays are now available on the Network's blog. The first place piece is written by Courtney Skipton Long and begins:

In September of 1977, a young, twenty-three-year-old man promised himself to his twenty-year-old bride. Forever. She wore white. He wore a tux. The flowers were the shades of autumn. It rained on their wedding day.

Their story is perhaps not all that different from most other early-stage Baby- Boom marriages of the 1970s and 80s. They met in high school, she went to college, he worked, they moved around, settled down, and then started a family.
As a child I understood the significance of a wedding. I understood that you found one special person and promised yourself to them. Forever. But, I never thought about what it actually meant to be married. For me, it was just some far-off day. I will wear white. He will wear a tux. The flowers will be the colors of spring. It will be sunny.

My mother always says that she married her best friend. My father is of fewer words, but you can tell that he married the girl of his dreams by the sparkle that is always in his eyes. As my parents celebrate their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary this year, I found myself wondering, “how am I going to emulate my parents’ marriage?” For a single girl this might seem like an odd question. But, like any want-to-be-married person out there, I am still looking for my version of my mother’s best friend.

You can read all of the essay here.