But I digress. Along one of the trails at Fort Mountain, there is a wooden deck that juts out over the edge of the ridge, giving you a magnificent panorama. But to make it even better, the way the trail winds up to it you can’t really see what is waiting for you until you actually get to the platform…and then it just spreads out before you, like a map hurled from the hand of a giant.
For a fleeting moment, it makes you feel like you are flying.
Call me a romantic fool, but I had long decided that whenever I got married, it would be here. And so, on a chilly day six months ago, I sprung the question.
I had a little help from her younger sister, who I swore to secrecy and took into my confidence, because I wanted to make this moment as special as I could. Our families were both there, about a dozen of us altogether, and her parents were going to Florida for a vacation the next week, so I figured this would be the best time for what I had in mind.
I managed to get her sister on ahead of the rest of us, on the pretense of going to get some good pictures of all of us coming up on the overlook, and then, by a combination of cunning and blind luck, got myself and Sara to the front of the party.
No matter how many times you go there, the view is always just as breathtaking; but this time, I scarcely even saw it. My heart was pounding like I’d just run a marathon, and I was literally breaking into a sweat despite the chill, that’s how nervous I was.
Sara didn’t suspect a thing. She moved down the last flight of stone steps to the platform, looking out at the view with the usual wide-eyed expression that it always causes, and I had managed it so that we were able to get to the railing where her sister was before the others had quite reached the deck itself.
I knelt, silently, looking up at Sara as she looked out over the valley. The wind blew her dark hair back away from her lovely face, raising a flush on her cheeks, and she closed her eyes and sighed, apparently never dreaming what I was about to do. Her sister was grinning from ear to ear, snapping away with the camera.
I actually had to swallow, twice, before I could make the words come out, and then, just as I was about to speak, we heard a gasp from our folks…who had just seen us. Sara turned, and her eyes went wide as she looked down at me, wide and filling suddenly with tears. She put her hand to her mouth, and every dang word of the pretty little speech I had planned went right out of my head.
So, I improvised.
“Will you marry me?”
And the next thing I knew, her arms were around my neck and she was sobbing in my ear.
“Yes! Yes, oh yes! Oh, Josh I love you! I love you!”
It was only the wind, of course, that made my eyes start running. I mean, it was chilly, right? And then I was on my feet fumbling with the ring and she was laughing and crying at the same time, and her sister’s grin was gonna split her face in two and our families were crowding around and hugs and kisses were flying. My Dad thumped me on the back, and I asked her’s formally if I could marry his daughter…I mean I would have, if he hadn’t grabbed me in the same kind of hug that her mom was giving her.
And when I asked her when she wanted to be married, she said she wanted to leave it up to me; so, like a genius, I said, “Let’s do it right here, in June.”
Which brings me right up to now, waiting for her to join me on the deck. I glanced around, for the thousandth time, at the little party of us: my younger siblings (I’m 26, and oldest in a large family), her Mom and sister, a few friends and a photographer.
Oh yes, and my Dad…who was actually going to perform the ceremony. I forgot to mention that he was a preacher himself, and very striking in his black suit.
It was a beautiful, sunny day in late spring. The sky was clear and blue and so very vast; all around the overlook the woods murmured and swayed in the balmy breeze, birdsongs drifted plaintively and the whole world buzzed with life and vitality. I reached up and fidgeted with the collar of my tux…they always make these things too stiff. Like I said before, I felt like I was running hard while standing still, and the height and the sheer vastness of the incredible view…wasn’t helping. My best man, Jake, who was also my best friend, smirked at me as I shifted a little on my feet.
“Scared?” he asked with a grin.
I snorted. “You have no idea.” Jake was a few years older than me and still single. By choice.
I closed my eyes for a moment, breathing a swift prayer for calmness…and when I opened them, there she was.
You all should know that as an artist, I can safely say I have never seen anyone as lovely as Sara…but at that moment, as she descended the steps on her father’s arm, I felt like I was looking into heaven itself. Her white gown fit close to her slender body, hugging the perfect curves of her hips and full bosom, before falling into graceful folds to the ground. I noticed the toes of her wedding shoes peeking shyly out from the hem, and I had to smile inside: if I knew anything about her, they would be sensible, flat-soled pumps. She hated any kind of heels almost as much as I did.
The neckline of her dress was tastefully low, leaving her lovely shoulders bare and showing just the slightest hint of cleavage…but I barely saw these things as I caught her eyes, shaded a bit within her veil but still very plainly shining out at me. My own began to well up again as the tidal wave of emotions crashed over me…what can I possibly say to describe the feelings of that moment? It was life and joy and love and all that is good in this world, rolled into one incredible sensation.
“Wow,” I breathed, scared to blink lest she vanish like a dream, and slowly I walked forward to meet her.
She was smiling, bashfully, as her father lifted the veil and kissed her on the cheek, and then gave me a strong but brief hug. He’s a big man, and she takes after him, tall for a girl and just a little shorter than me. She glanced at me as I took her hand, and a lovely blush rose on her pale cheeks as she looked at the ground.
I led her to my Dad, standing there with his Bible open, and all creation sang around us.
“…and do you, Josh, vow to take this woman to be your wife, to love, honor and cherish her as long as you both shall live?”
“I do,” I said, my voice a bit higher and shakier than I intended.
“And do you, Sara, vow to take this man to be your husband, to love, honor and obey him so long as you both shall live?”
She looked into my eyes and smiled. “I do,” she whispered.
“Then by the power invested in me by our mutual Faith, I pronounce you man,” my Dad looked at me, “and wife.” He looked at her, and I swear there was a proud tear in his eye. “You may kiss the bride.”
It was our first kiss…we both were virgins, determined to wait. And it was sweet, but kinda awkward too…
And we were now married. She was a week shy of her twentieth birthday.
And now, the part you’ve all been waiting for! But first, hold up a second. A couple things I wanna point out.