BLOG 6

We went to a wedding on Friday. It’ been rather a long time since I have been to a wedding, we have probably been to more funerals, being of a certain age.
The church was beautiful, the setting idyllic and the sun shone. The Vicar, Reverend Matthew Street, was fun and had the congregations laughing and relaxed prior to the wedding.

The ceremony was lovely and full of just the right amount of emotion and love.

But for me, it was what the vicar said at the end of the service that really caught my interest and made me think. There was a reading from Collosians 3 12-17. I must admit, it didn’t really register with me, but Reverend Matthew used this earlier passage to talk to our bride and groom and the rest of the congregation.
He said in the morning, when you dress, think of this as items of clothing, so you first put on a item of gentleness, kindness, humbleness, meekness and patience, so you are nearly dressed, but you add another item of clothing, forgiveness, followed by peace, and he finished by saying finally on top of all of this you put the biggest item of clothing on and he simulated putting an overcoat on. He said, finally the overcoat of Love which encompasses all others.
Now, I am not very literate, because I didn’t listen at school, so I may have misrepresented the reverend with my interpretation of how it happened, but I hope I have painted enough of a picture for you.

He also said that women when they are in groups, don’t tell their friends, “Oh my husband is fabulous at DIY, he puts of the shelves without me asking and I am so proud of him” and when men are in the pub with their mates, they don’t say “ Oh my wife is a wonderful cook and such a good mother”.
My friends looked at me and said “you are always saying how wonderful Norman is, and he says the same about you, but then you are unusual!”
He went on to say Humility is acknowledging their strengths and good points and encouraging them, but also accepting their weaknesses and putting the cloak of protectiveness around them.

I have to say, I walked away feeling enlightened by what he said, but also very thoughtful about his analogy. As we get older, we look to make ourselves better people, moments like that, really do give you the chance to take stock and hopefully move forward with more enriched way of looking at people around you. I hope I can learn from it and care more about people around me.

My life with Norman is different to most, I do recognise that. Living and working together 24 hours a day, every day would not suit most people. I love being with Norman, we can spend hours when we are working in total silence, concentrating on our work, or listening to music, but we also talk and laugh all the time. I really do count my blessings every day that I have such a wonderful relationship and I do so hope that our friends who have just got married have as good a relationship as we have. The joy is, that we really don’t have to work very hard at it.

There are very few occasions when we can’t solve an issue together, but then we do have the 50p bet. This 50p bet has gone on ever since we have known each other, and if we don’t agree on something, rather than keep arguing, we agree to find out the answer and then the winner gets a virtual 50p. ( I have a story about myself and Terry Wogan and a 50p bet, but perhaps that’ll go in the book)

So in conclusion, I hope I have shared a bit about what I learned on Friday from Reverend Street, but could I just add, that Norman and I have added two items of clothing to our lives… The tie of sarcasm and the braces of comedy.