Iowa City Wedding

We were reading Wendell out loud (like we do on most road trips) on the way up to Laura & Peter’s Iowa City Wedding.  Jen was reading, while I drove and admired the vastness of land between Tennessee and Iowa. Rows of crop and big sky as far as the eye can see. Despite the expanse of “nothing” every mile felt like we were getting closer to home….or maybe to ourselves.

The noise of the “city” seemed to dissipate and we felt like we could be quiet again. To listen. To see. To absorb.

We’re jealous for more of these moments and we’re learning to understand what it means to live our lives more purposefully toward intention rather than reaction. To listen, to see, to absorb… even when life seems to be blazing by.

I say all this because when we think of Laura & Peter, we think about two souls who have learned how to listen. To soak in cherished moments. To dance to life’s joy and to feel it’s sorrow. And of course, Wendell writes about this…

“we clasp the hands of those who go before us, and the hands of those who come after us;

we enter the little circle of each other’s arms,

and the larger circle of lovers whose hands are joined in a dance,

and the larger circle of all creatures, passing in and out of life, who move also in a dance, to a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it except in fragments”

I won’t be able to properly describe these two beyond this – Laura & Peter listen and hear the subtle music. The music that weaves into our stories, our lives, and our moments…and watching them clasp at the hands of those they love with purpose, heart, and depth is something we’ll never forget.

From tear-filled pews during Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living” and favorite home recipes that were served to their guests, to personal songs sung in both English & French, this day was an expression of the heart and character of two people we feel incredibly blessed to know.