The Tale Of Cecilia And Joseph

My name is Cecilia, betrothed to Joseph. Or at least I still consider myself to be.

On the morning of our wedding, my beloved came to my room, just before the ceremony. He told me he wished to speak with me in private. I told him it was bad luck to see his bride before the wedding, but he assured me I needn’t worry. That it would not take long.

We took a walk in the gardens and out to the field. He seemed nervous, but so was I. We were about to become husband and wife and start our life together. 

We also still knew little of each other. It had been in our families best interest that we would marry. He is a beautiful and loving man, it seemed, I fell in love with him instantly.

After about fifteen minutes walk, just when I was about to ask him if we should not return shortly or we’d be late to our own wedding, he halted me. 

He took a black cloth from his pocket and told me to close my eyes. That he had something for me. Before he blindfolded me, I got to look into his eyes. What I saw there was rage and fear.

‘What is the matter?’ I asked as he put the cloth in front of my eyes and tied it at the back. He did not answer, but I dared not ask him again. 

I heard rustling of clothes and steps on the field of grass. It was as if he was pacing from and towards me. 

An unfamiliar click, followed by what sounded like a shot. A weird feeling rushed near my heart, but it did not hurt, there was no pain.

It was as if the world slowed down and time was no longer of importance. I felt a numbness spread around my heart, then a warmth on my body. When I touched where I felt the weird sensation, my fingers felt something wet. It was the last thing I noticed before my vision turned black and my body went limp.

When my body came to, it was dark out. I was still blindfolded but strangely enough, I could see perfectly so I decided to leave it be. I saw blood on my dress, it had dried up a little. 

If only I knew where Joseph was, the man that was to become my husband, but he  was nowhere to be seen.

I went in search for him, to ask him why he did what he did and if he didn’t love me anymore. Maybe I could talk to him about wanting to marry me still. 

I just cannot seem to find him. I have been looking for him for as long as I can remember but one day I will find him and hope he will take me back.

How we celebrate

Last week I told you about the celebration that was the anniversary of a unique friendship of ten years, I think this week I'll finally let you in on how we celebrated.


Before I show you, I think a little historic tale is in order first.


It's a bit over nine years ago, almost a week after I gave birth to my son, when I had to miss out on Leonie's wedding. It's totally legit to blame your son right? I mean, he decided he didn't want to be born on time but two weeks late, so it's not my fault I missed it. If he wasn't so amazing, I would still hold that against him but I got over it, even after I saw pictures of the happy couple.


Eighteen months later, my friend Leonie decided not to get pregnant but witness my wedding. In fact, she helped make our day even more unforgettable; She and her husband were masters of ceremony.


But after both our weddings, our dresses returned to closets, hardly to ever be touched again and we never liked that. For years we spoke of 'wedding gown days', a day to celebrate the beauty of the gown we got to wear for just one day, to put it on once more and have an amazing day in it.


Of course we never actually went ahead and do it. I grew out of it and all that was left was the dream of one day fit into it again and suggest it again when that time came.


That time came not too long ago and yes of course I suggested it for our tenth anniversary that was coming up. But instead of just a dinner, I wanted something bigger, something that we would remember forever (I am such a sap, I know).


That's when I came up with the idea to combine our anniversary with hubby's love for photography. Ding dong, celebration set; we would have pictures taken in a way only hubby knows best how to do. 


Without further ado, here's our memory...
(oh, and Ewan; check the last picture for the giant napkin explanation. I seem to remember you asking why we needed one :))

(now, you'd think that the napkin would have the whole 'keep clothes clean'-situation covered, right? WRONG! Leonie still managed to get chocolate cake on hers! It's a talent, I swear ;))

10

I was nervous, which was weird because I had known her through long telephone conversations, longer forum chat sessions at ‘The Sisterhood’ and whole essays which normal people would call e-mails, for months already. But this would be the first time we would talk and flail and be in the same room together, face-to-face.

Now, don’t ask me to remember which name fits with a person or even to remember some faces, but I do remember dates and things that seem small to other people.

That is why I still remember what day it was that I picked up my future bff from the metro station and that the weather was hot and that I drove my beloved ’73 Scamp. Fuck, I even still remember that we ate spaghetti that night, haha (I blame that on the fact that we both wore white clothes and we are both incapable of keeping said white clothes clean when it comes to food that is not of the same color as those aforementioned clothes).

Anyway, that was to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship (thanks to Humphrey Bogart who kindly let me borrow his line). A friendship that would never have existed, had Christian never believed in love and thus never met Satine at the Moulin Rouge.

A friendship that took us all the way to London in 2005 to meet the man that was responsible for our friendship!

Today, exactly 10 years later, I find myself nervous again. We’ve got something planned that has been an idea for almost 8 out of those 10 years and finally decided it was time to do it and do it even bigger than we had ever thought of.

I’m not going to give away what that is just yet, that’s still a surprise but I can promise that you will never guess in a million years what that could be. (hint: we’re going to need the world’s biggest napkin)