Katherine on her wedding day, some words, some images

We gathered in Asheville, NC, to honor Katherine Wilson and Sean Mason as they celebrated their wedding day.  We could not have been more privileged.  I was given the greatest gift when asked to speak a few words on behalf of that moment in time, and Katherine has asked that I share them here.

And so I do.

For Katherine, on her wedding day.

December 8, 2012

If you know Katherine Wilson—if you love her—you know what joy is.  It is the color, I’ve decided, of winter sun, 4 PM, Saturday afternoon—more pink than gold, generous and fulgent.  It’s homemade strawberry jam, lemon-rosemary chicken, the salad that doesn’t need a dressing because it’s been sensationalized with just a little tiny bit of garlic salt.  Joy is a side of Parmesan risotto, a hot tray of zucchini chips, a glass of honey wine, a long drive or a weekend in, an evening by the fire, an oar dipped into a river at dawn.

Joy radiates.  It is contagious.  And if you step even this close to Katherine Wilson, you’re already gone, done in.  You’ve been joy-ified, and there will be no going back.  As long as Katherine’s near, you’re smiling.

The same thing happens, by the way, in Carolyn’s presence.  I’m guessing red-haired, black-haired, light-haired genetics.

Katherine’s joy is why we’re here today.  Katherine’s joy and the most ridiculously lucky fact that there is someone in this world—just the right, rare someone—who wants Katherine to be happier than she already, innately is.  Someone who makes Katherine happiest.

It might not have happened.  Life doesn’t always yield, doors don’t always open, but into Katherine’s world stepped this man who has the kind of huge wide heart that knows what treasure is.  A man who wanted to keep Katherine safe.  A man who wanted to build her a home.  A man who wanted to photograph her against the rising and the setting sun.  A man who lets Katherine know how beautiful she is, and look how beautiful she is, in the face of love. 

“I just like to sit and think about how lucky I am and about how much I love my life,” Katherine is known to write—on her blog, or on Facebook.  “The biggest feeling Sean and I both have is that we are just so grateful for each other, grateful for our family and friends, and grateful to God for the friends and families that this marriage is bringing together,” Katherine wrote to me, a few weeks ago.

Maybe gratitude isn’t always easy.  But when it is found, when it is honored, when it is sustained, it makes everything so simple, and that’s the thing about Katherine and Sean’s love.  It is uncomplicated.  It is therefore good.

Astonishing things happen in grace.   Life is lived bigger through awe.  Katherine alone is a wonder, of course, but Katherine with Sean is something approximating a miracle.  They together remind us what love can be—how full of giving, how without limits, how holy, dear, and fulgent.

Happy Wedding Day, dear Katherine and Sean.