A lifetime and beyond

It was fall in Ojai, and intrinsically so at nearly one hundred degrees.  Guests fanned themselves as they lazed on lounge furniture arranged under a shaded umbrella of young oaks while enjoying Aperol spritzes and local wines. 

Wooden farm tables pushed together that seemed to stretch for miles formed a rectangle around the oversized lap pool and existing decorative boxwood balls.  Freshly baked pizzas from a wood oven on the other side of the fence were elevated onto platforms beneath which salads and local veggies were carefully arranged on serving plates.  Wines were placed directly on the tables in abundance.  I had arranged café au lait dahlias, strawflower, sweet everlasting, dusty miller, hedera and plum leaf within various brass antique vessels from which the elements spilled over the tables.  I created a runner of wild, curled jasmine vine that connected the vases and weaved in and out of the plethora of food and drink.  Vintage brass candlesticks displayed slender ivory taper candles with tea lights at their base all of which flickered in the much welcomed evening breeze.  Pomegranates clipped from the garden were lovingly scattered.

When Dani and Den told me they were having a family style dinner reception, did they ever mean it.  Guests hopped from one stretch of table to the next, playing a game of musical chairs.  Even vendors could be seen on the outskirts grinning at the revelries which were cast in soft warm light underneath lanterns suspended from the trees.  

I saw Dani and Den off in the sunsetted distance of the rambling garden, having their photos taken hand in hand.  They arrived at the property moments before ceremony began in separate cars although they had spent the afternoon together preparing.  I found a niche between the massive boxwood hedge walls from where I peaked at ceremony next to a mother mary statue I had adorned with garlands of baby pink rose buds. I saw the lighthearted playfulness that the couple so steadily and constantly engaged in lift for one brief moment as Dani appeared at the other end of the aisle clutching her father’s arm.  Den froze as tears rose to his eyes when Dani looked up to meet him, and then just like that, one fire sign danced towards the other in warm smiles that were sure to linger a lifetime and beyond.

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