Time passed since that winter. We married that next spring, with all of our family and friends present. Neither of us wanted a traditional wedding, so we opted for the sunken gardens near where we lived. The bright colors of the numerous flowers and the sun's reflection off of the pond at the bottom of the bowl-shaped garden would be a perfect backdrop. Wouldn't you know, that morning, a thunderstorm soaked the entire area, and made us retreat to the shelter of the tent at the top. Just as I was about to make the call to go to the backup location, you took off your veil, let your long auburn hair down and reached out to me with a smile. I knew what you wanted. I smiled, and we started walking down the stairs, toward the pond, without any care of getting soaked. Our guests hesitated, but were understanding, and followed us down, in a slow and happy procession. As soon as we got to the lowest level, though, the rain stopped, and a large beam of light shined down on us all. It was if nature was giving us a gentle blessing. The raindrops, with sunlight decoration, looked like falling diamonds.
After the wedding, you wasted no time requesting what you wanted next, a baby. We tried for a whole year, but to no avail. Disheartened, we went to see a fertility specialist to see what could be done. There is nothing in this world I hate more than hospitals. Mostly, because of those damn buzzing fluorescent lights. It's unnerving how that plain white glow can suck all the color out of a room, like it was draining the world of life, itself. The doctors were as kind as they could be, but the news was grim. We were barren, both of us, and there was little hope of changing that. We had to get out of there, so we went to a nearby park, but that didn't help. We were surrounded by birds and rabbits and people, all able to do the one thing we could not. We sat down, away from those lucky families, by the lake. It was mid-afternoon, so the sun shown brightly against the gentle waves. It healed us a bit. Finally, you asked ,"What are we going to do now?" I smiled and said, "we'll be there for our friend's children, our neighbor's children, and our family's children. We can still give that." and we did.
