By Ba Ipe (April 11, 2024)
GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
IT was my first time to attend a marriage renewal ceremony. I did not know a damn thing about its nature, mechanics, and commitment. I was fortunate to be invited by netizen friend Gilbert “Bing” Mayores to attend his marriage renewal ceremony with wife Erma in the middle class Marikina City. It was their 50th wedding anniversary. It was held last Saturday, or on April 6.
Going to the renewal ceremony was an ordeal for an old man like me (am 70 yo). I got lost in the urban jungle of Marikina City. As a long-time Kyusi resident, I’m not familiar with this shoe capital city. To make the long story short, I arrived late at the Church ceremony. But I took the matter into my own hands and went straight to the reception restaurant in another barangay. I arrived on time as the reception ceremony was about to start.
I met Bing and Erma, family, and friends. I sat next to Bing’s classmate and childhood mate and best friend, the prominent retired Ambassador Shulan Primavera, a career diplomat who represented the country’s mission in Egypt, Indonesia, and Kuwait, his wife, and brother Noel, and several other friends. We had grand time exchanging notes. But that was another story.
The reception ceremony started with a Christian pastor, whose name I did not get, leading another marriage renewal ceremony. I was astonished to learn in his preceremony remarks that the phrase “till death do us part” was essentially a biblical phrase in the Book of Ruth and that the phrase was mentioned by the husband not to his wife but to his in-laws.
The ceremony proceeded smoothly with the pastor, asking a series of three questions to reaffirm and reconfirm the couple’s undying commitment to keep the marriage until their last breath. I could only heave a sigh of surprise on what appears to be the ultimate necessity for reaffirmation on a marriage that has been working over the last fifty years.
The approach was a superfluity, although I have kept my distance and avoided unnecessary comment. But I was deeply impressed by the solemnity of the occasion. I could only marvel at the couple’s will to continue and keep what they pledged fifty years ago. What dawned on me was the strength of the couple's determination to finish on a high note what they have started many moons ago.
I saw Bing and Erma’s kids and partners, and grandkids too taking the center stage during the reception ceremony to indicate what I could describe a basically happy marriage. They wore those smiles to show their love and care for the couple on that special occasion. I’m reminded by what Ann Landers, an American advice columnist, said: “Sensual pleasures have the fleeting brilliance of a comet; a happy marriage has the tranquility of a lovely sunset.”
Of course, the marriage renewal ceremony had the usual clichés restating that it is a function of years of the couple’s struggle to weather all the storms in their marriage. The couple was more than glad to reconfirm that theirs is a never smooth sailing process and the moments of trepidation and bewilderment have their funny and tragic share during the course of their union.
On that note, I could say in my heart what the French author once said: “A happy marriage is a long conversation which always seems too short.” I could only raise my glass of wine to toast Bing and Erma’s fulfilling marriage. #
No comments:
Post a Comment