a bridesmaid at last...

Last week, or perhaps the week before (time on an island is difficult to measure), I had had a bad day and escaped to the bar for a drink with friends. Before long, we noticed a lovely young woman sitting by herself. I invited her to join us. She's Bulgarian, on holiday with her husband. They had been married for six years and he had proposed to her in the Maldives. As of yet, she hadn't gotten him a Valentines Day present, and so she wanted to plan a second wedding here. She joked that I could be her bridesmaid.

I didn't see her again for a couple of days, then we met again at the cocktail party. Such an enchanting young woman, large blue eyes that are both merry like a child and show an inner softness and vulnerability. Her hair is like sunlight framing her creamy fair complexion. Tall and slender, from without, she is a vision, but what captured me was the sweetness, the purity of her being in her eyes. It was at the cocktail party, on the silky white beach at sunset when I met her husband. I knew that he was significantly older, but when I saw them together I was struck by the love shining between them.

I joined them for dinner that night along with another couple, on honeymoon, from England. We said goodnight around midnight. That night I dreamt of love, a love pure, strong and beautiful.

The wedding was to be the following day, but after two months without rain, suddenly the fury of the heavens were unleashed. It was the Bulgarian couple's last night on my resort before moving to our sister resort. The wedding was canceled, and she was terribly disappointed. The following day I took the ferry to our sister resort, to the cocktail party because I had said I would see them there. The surprise was on me! They were waiting at the jetty for the ferry to go back to my resort, which they referred to as "home". We had dinner and drinks once more. I drank in their looks, their affectionate touches like nectar. Despite living in one of the most romantic honeymoon destinations in the world, I don't see much genuine affection. Couple these days are very practical minded. The relax, and enjoy, but the affection is much lower than I would have expected.

If I were here with someone I loved, I would want to hold hands, to gaze at them, steal kisses, or else plant kisses of affection on their temple or brush their cheek with my lips if I left even for a moment, or for no reason at all. These two were enchanting with their affection. It was subtle, to be easily missed, but I could see the joy and love in their eyes.

The morning of the wedding dawned bright and early. I am not used to seeing mornings. I had left my office at 4.30am and my eyes closed at 5am. I rose a mere three hours later to get ready to see them off. I arrived at reception in time to help with the necklace of frangipani flowers, and the separating of petals from other flowers to be thrown into the air around them as they were paraded around the island. The groom came first, then in a grand procession with drums, we went to the villa to pick up the bride. She wore a simple white satin dress made by our tailors, and she was glowing. When the procession was ready to enter the boat, it was thought there wasn't enough room for the extra people to come. The problem was solved by the drummers sitting on the hull of the speedboat.

On the desert island, I played the part of the bridesmaid.

In such a company it seemed fitting that the bridesmaid film the wedding with the couple's camera. It was a grand wedding, and my first in Maldives. The ceremony calls for quite a bit of drinking- an entire coconut, a glass of champagne, another glass of champagne...before long the groom was asking for a toilet, so halfway through the ceremony he ran off to the side of the island, lifted his sarong and relieved himself while the rest of us laughed.

Later, after all was said and done, he wanted to go for a swim. She had packed his swimsuit, so up came the sarong once more, on with the swimming trunks and then off with everything else as he dove into the lagoon. I sat in the relative shade of a palm frond with her in her dress, knees under her chin.
"I wish I could go swimming too," she said.
I jumped up, "Go!"
"No, I can't. I brought my costume, but there is no where to change."
Now I had the help of the one female receptionist (who loves swimming as much as I do). We exclaimed that we could use the table cloths and hold them up in front of her as she changed.
"No, I just wish to. I cannot."
"Go in your dress then!" I exclaimed. "Really, you're not going to wear it again, why not?"
Her protests were getting weaker and weaker as she looked longingly at the water.
"You must be joking. How many times in your life will you have the opportunity to go swimming in your wedding dress off of a desert island in the middle of the ocean?"
"Ok...Ok, I will." and with that, she got up and with great resolve made her way to the beach and then slowly melted into the water. It was beautiful. When she had finished I was waiting with a towel to wrap around her. She looked radiant.

The entire party then made its way across the beach to the boat and returned to the resort, drumming and singing the whole way. The groom even got to drive the boat, happy as a little kid.

That was two days ago. They have returned to their two beautiful children and the cold winter air of Bulgaria.
My heart thanks them, for allowing me to be a part of, to see and experience the beauty of their love.