Joanna's Virtual Shower Wishes

Dear Elizabeth,

Welcome to your Virtual Bridal Shower! I hope you’re having a fun day! I wish that I could be there to “shower you” with my good wishes in person, but I’ll see you quite soon. One benefit to doing this virtually, I suppose, is that you get to miss all those silly shower games. Hmmm. There is one game that you can still play: the “create a wedding dress out of toilet paper” game! Get Garrett to help you (hey, he’s a stylish guy), and then take lots of pics for us!

Anyway, needless to say, I am so happy for you – that you have found that special person to share your life with, someone who clearly adores you (as well he should!). It has been such fun to watch your relationship with Garrett progress, from “Oh, Elizabeth’s dating another guy” to “Hmmm, she’s seeing a lot of him, isn’t she?” to “Awwww, what a cute couple they make!” It’s been like watching a fairytale Romance unfold, in real time.

That brings me to one of my current favorite poems (I think you’ll see why):

Permanently

One day the Nouns were clustered in the street.
An Adjective walked by, with her dark beauty.
The Nouns were struck, moved, changed.
The next day a Verb drove up, and created the Sentence.

Each Sentence says one thing–­­ for example, “Although it was a dark rainy day when the Adjective walked by, I shall remember the pure and sweet expression on her face until the day I perish from the green, effective earth.”
Or, “Will you please close the window, Andrew?”
Or, for example, “Thank you, the pink pot of flowers on the window sill has changed color recently to a light yellow, due to the heat from the boiler factory which exists nearby.”

In the springtime the Sentences and the Nouns lay silently on the grass.
A lonely Conjunction here and there would call, “And! But!”
But the Adjective did not emerge.

As the Adjective is lost in the sentence,
So I am lost in your eyes, ears, nose, and throat­­–
You have enchanted me with a single kiss
Which can never be undone
Until the destruction of language.

— Kenneth Koch

As an old married broad (thirteen years together, eight years married, as of this July), I should probably have some words of wisdom for you regarding your upcoming nuptials. But I don’t think you need any! Instead, I’ll tell you what I found about being married: it brought no dramatic changes; just more of a great thing. So I wish you much, much more of all the great things that you and Garrett have together now: fun, adventure, friendship, happiness, and love.

To close, another, more dramatic love poem for you:

Touched by an Angel

We, unaccustomed to courage
exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple
and comes into our sight
to liberate us into life.

Love arrives
and in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain.
Yet if we are bold,
love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls.

We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

—Maya Angelou

Have fun with your remaining wedding preparations, and I’ll see you soon!

Love,
Joanna