Given last week’s card for my 52 Cards Project, you might have wondered what I would draw for this week’s theme card. If you did, you’re not alone. So did I!

The theme would be about our daughter’s wedding, of course, but over this long weekend as mother of the bride, I was much too busy to draw and much too full emotions to even sort it out!

When I finally came back down to earth to make my card for the week, the usual symbols presented themselves. Bells, hearts, flowers…At first I felt I couldn’t find my own way around these well-worn images. What, I wondered, could I say that hasn’t been said before?

But you know, this tale IS as “old as time”—but it is also ever new. (Fun fact: the bride’s first and favorite Disney movie is Beauty and the Beast.)

Man and woman meet, they fall in love…they think about it for a hot minute (or a few years), and then they get married. They commit to make a life together. And all of their people—family and friends—come together. To witness and to celebrate.

And for all the gifts given during this momentous event—the real gift is Love.

It’s like the wedding itself is a big wedding present. During the ceremony the couple opens the box, love lifts, and then as the rest of the day and evening unfold, love soars all around us—

That’s how it felt, I think.

And THEN the most amazing thing happened. We all got older and some of us were there as children, and some of us are with us now in spirit only, and many of us are gathering together for the first time—but it’s thirty-six years later and we’re now watching our daughter marry the man she loves!

What a gift.