This is a photo of my mother's wedding dress and my new mother-in-law's pearls - the pearls she wore on her wedding day, and her mother wore on her wedding day - on me. It's a photo of a little boy who lived in the apartment downstairs of our first home. A boy John and I visited in the hospital when he was first born, and we were first growing closer as a couple. It's of a hen the boy's mom and I talked our men into letting us bring home as a baby chick one spring. His mom has done up my hair in curls and gentle twists for the occasion. Our friend, who once made my sister the loveliest for her wedding day, now dressed my lashes, lips and all the rest to make me look beautiful in this photo. And the photo, one of my best friends created with her camera. The presence unseen but felt; a dear friend close by. You can see a little gold nose ring, the one I'd wanted since I was 13 - the ring that inspired me into a new version of myself at 25 - someone who took risks, was confident, friendly, adventurous, conversational. Who did the things she dreamed. Who decided she should learn to play the violin and talk to boys. Who went to house parties, but showed up in sweaters. The 25 year old girl who met my husband, John Turner one night on a soccer field.
You can see all this in one little photo that wasn't ever on a shot list - in one little moment that hardly anyone saw on my wedding day. This is what the photo is of, and it is one of my favorites. The details of the day rushed by and hardly anyone seemed to notice the little things that meant everything to us as we said I do. But I see them here.
