29 Things That Make Me Happy: Writing A New Short Story!

Day 26...

Thought Relieving Stories

So that's a bit of a weird thing to make me happy but basically what I actually mean is that some nights when I can't sleep and my brain refuses to shut down because I'm an over analyser and I over think even the most minute details of life,  I write a super short story to just get all the thoughts out. Writing has always been an excellent form of relief for me and those sleepless nights are definitely no different.

The most recent one was me thinking about all the weddings I had been to recently, my friend's sister's one "All Shades of Pink" and my cousins one, "Engagement Tales and Wedding Bells". I'm always wondering what' going through the bride and groom's heads as they repeat their wedding vows at the altar and so I wrote something based on this. I literally wrote this in about 30 minutes so I know it's not the best work ever but I hope you enjoy it for what it is. I've called it "Wedding Bells"

This picture is by British fashion illustrator Hayden Williams from his Bridal Couture 2014 collection. He has actually been a source of inspiration for another of my short stories. I really love the simplicity and elegance of the dress.

She stood at the doors of the cathedral, her white dress perfectly fitted to flatter her every curve and conceal her every imperfection. She could hear the sound of the organ playing the wedding march, a tune she had hummed in her head over a million times before today, counting her steps to make sure she and her father reached the altar just in time for the grand finale of the tune. The doors were flung wide open and the room fell silent, all eyes in the room were fixed on her and her alone, she could feel her body jitter with every step and she leaned on her dad for support. Right at the end of the long aisle, beautifully decorated with white roses and petals, was the love of her life, her one and only Jimi. From where she stood she could see his chest heaving ever so slightly under his shiny black tuxedo, he was trying to calm his breathing and when she finally got to the altar, she imitated the rise and fall of his chest, breath for breath, heart for heart, life for life.

A lot of what the priest was saying was going over Sade’s head, she just really wanted to be declared the wife of this her perfect man and finally be known as Mrs Odusote. So when finally it got to the exchange of vows, she found her mind unusually cluttered as Jimi began to recite the traditional vows after the priest. She closed her eyes and tried to allow herself to truly exist in this moment.

“With this ring, I thee wed…”

She thought of all the times that she had thought Jimi was going to propose to her. They had been dating for 10 years and so many surprise dinners and unsuspected gestures of romance had turned out to be mini disappointments for Sade. With each disappointment she resolved in her mind that the next one would be the last and then she would have to ask him plainly. The worst one was at a hastily thrown together surprise party for her mum’s 53^rd birthday, her whole family was acting so suspicious that she was sure that would be the day. It turned out that instead her younger brother didn’t know how to tell the family he was leaving Lagos permanently for work and he and Jimi had orchestrated dinner as a way to break the news. When the proposal finally came though, she hadn’t suspected it at all. She was lying in bed one Sunday afternoon when Jimi appeared at her home and started babbling on about love and patience and taking your time to do things the best way possible. It wasn’t until his voice gave him away, revealing a bit too much emotion and she looked into his tear filled brown eyes that she realised exactly what was happening. He got down on both knees and presented the most beautiful canary yellow diamond ring with an engraving of their initials on the inside of the band and she said “Yes!”

“…With my body, I thee honour…”

Sex before marriage, infidelity and even abortion, the body was something that they both never gave much importance to. Sade hadn’t meant to cheat on him that night but they were on one of their breaks and she thought she needed the confidence boost from being able to successfully flirt with another man after 6 years of a relationship. She didn’t think it would lead to anything until she felt his lips on hers and her resolve too weak to stop him. She carried the kiss like a black cloud over her head for months before finally telling Jimi about it. His forgiveness had not come easy and it was only on the intervention of her best friend that he even decided to listen to her story. Jimi was not free of all blame though and every time she thinks of the abortion she never wanted of the child he wasn’t ready for, she cannot help but feel a little betrayed and so she pushes the thought out of her mind. This is their happy day and they had both gone through the necessary absolution and paid penance for their sins.

“…And all my wordly goods with thee I share…”

Forget about the wordly goods, to Sade there was nothing in this world that could ever come close to the feelings of love, companionship, freedom and clarity that she felt with Jimi. As a man he was imperfect as all human beings were but as her partner, he was the best version of himself and she of herself. At the end of the day it was never the possession of wordly goods that mattered, she felt extremely lucky to be with him and knew he felt the same about her. The fact that her father-in-law had a nice little apartment with their names on it surely helped matters though.

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son and and of the Holy Spirit…”

Even through their dark days and stormy nights, when the rains never seemed to desist, they held on tightly to each other and in the later years to God. Through falling in love with each other, they had both realised the need to fall in love with God first, to live a life mimicking that of Jesus. To be fully reliant on the Holy Spirit to guide them and order their footsteps. They became one with God and now on this day the 12^th of September 2014, they will become one in front of God.

“Amen.”

She opened her eyes against the tears that were threatening to fall and ruin her make-up before the photos and blinked frantically. It has finally happened, they were now officially Mr and Mrs. and even though she didn’t make it down the altar according to her precise counts, it didn’t matter because Jimi was finally all hers. Through the ups and downs, the highs and the lows. She was his and he was hers.