I Wonder About the Bride and Groom

It was a beautiful warm and sunny September day in Florida.  My husband and I were the Flag Family at Disney's Wilderness Lodge that morning.  For those not in the know, it entails going up to the roof of the hotel with a cast member and raising the flags that adorn it.  It requires you to be an early rise, as this is done before eight in the morning.  There are five flags that need to be raised and of course plenty of opportunity for photographs.

As we climbed down the stairs afterwards, I noticed a small area, I believe on the 4th floor that was obviously going to be used for a small wedding ceremony and/or reception.  And when I say small, I mean small.  This was obviously not going to be a large Disney affair that you might read about.  It would have to be intimate as I couldn't imagine more than a dozen people at the most fitting comfortably in the space.  And although small, it was light and airy and if memory serves there may have even been a window looking out on the bay behind it.

I never saw any members of the wedding party, but it was such a picture perfect day and it was Disney so I was sure it would be a beautiful and memorable wedding.

My husband, our guide and I continued downstairs to the lobby where we were presented with a certificate proving that we were that day's Flag Family.  Then the two of us went over to the Whispering Canyon Cafe for a delicious breakfast.  The thoughts of an impending wedding faded from my mind.

But I remember it every year, even as my own anniversary is just days away.  I wonder about the bride and groom.  I wonder what their wedding day was really like.  I wonder because the day that we were the Flag Family at the Wilderness Lodge was September 11, 2001.

Not to minimize the tragic events of the day, but I find myself wondering every September 11th what happened.  Did they get married that day?  (Are they still married?)  How did they feel when what I am sure was supposed to be the most wonderful day of their lives (and obviously that of their family and friends) was turned into a day that no one will ever forget, for all the wrong reasons.

Whoever they are, I hope they are happy.  I hope have lived (and continue to live) a good life; one that is not too tainted by the date.  For as horrible as that day was (and I think everyone who was alive that day will be forever haunted by it), I hope that their wedding remains the one small ray of sunlight in an incredibly dark day.  Because we all need that glimmer.  A reminder that life did and does go on, even in the face of horrible tragedy.  I want to think that in spite of the evil that lives in this world, there are little bits of good and hope.

And if by some miraculous chance either they or someone who knows them (or was even there) reads this; Happy Anniversary.