Be merry and get married: One wedding changed me.

The youngest of the family got married, after a year and half from original date, with Covid moving everything around. He finally got married. All Lanuza’s or most of us where there to celebrate, the Lanuza way.

I know this blog entry should be in Spanish, but for some reason I tell this story in my head in English, I’m sorry for my aunt Marta, the mother of my cousin, I will translate it for her specially.

Hello Welcome to my Kitchen and letters food blog,

I know it has been a while, in this while many things happened. Life again got on the way, it seems that this years is asking me to take many pauses between events. It also seems that in between the pause, I have had many important learnings. I have stopped to continue to listen, to understand why we must make a pause from time to time. For me I have have to do it to believe once again in the perfect timing of life. I have become an English teacher in a private school, a super challenging job. Teachers need to get paid more for what they do. Is a service of the heart, teachers are there being the eyes of the parents while parents are away working. I could not do that and be a parent, I don’t know how people do it, having kids all the time at home.

Anyway, back to the wedding, my youngest cousin got married almost early November, the timing was perfect, he waited more than a year to get married due to the pandemic and stuff. On that day, I wanted to have a date to take to the wedding, at the end, I went alone. I decided to make it a glorious day, and I did. Sometimes we forget the reason for weddings to exist. Yes, is a symbolism to commitment between two people that love each other and what to share that love with their love ones, so at the end is a social pact to bring all the people we love in the same roof. For the first time ever I think, I danced from begging to end. I had fun, true, honest beautiful fun! It was time to let go, to enjoy, to be surrounded by family, to care, to understand that a wedding maybe is just a wedding, could be fancy, but is also an opportunity to reconnect with those people that we hardly ever see, and that when we see them we understand the connection to them. It also an opportunity to enjoy and be merry, to dance your troubles away. I do know that most of the people there, specially with the one I was dancing need this more than me.

The feeling of sharing food, music, laughter, crazy drinks and love all in one place at one time, is some what magical. I never saw it like that, I guess that before COVID there where many things that I had taken for granted such as: family. I do have the luxury to have all my family still together, with its issues, but we are together and all us are in good health, good jobs, living our lives. Almost at the end of the night I told my cousin, the one that got married; I feel as if I should share something with you, I should pass on something and all have to give you is that we are a very resilient family, we are strong and we survive, no matter what, we survive. It was funny how the youngest got all of us together. This is the first wedding that I remember where I had one of the best times. Well, now that I think about it, also my two brothers weddings I did, that one of the best times. Oh well and once with my best friend we crashed a wedding in London, on the same night we crashed a wedding and a party, we drank the champagne that was cooling in the fridge! We even became the hosts and when we got discovered we left and in our way out we took that pizza that was being delivered to our luck at the same time as we were leaving. Anyway, back to the wedding, I continue to get distracted.

In other words, all I want to say is I finally understood what weddings are meant for: help you join the couple in their special day, and maybe just maybe it could be the day that you for one second let go! have fun, enjoy and forget that life does get on the way, you are in a place that is meant to share love, hope, desire, best wishes. Is a party that its purpose to nourish relationships, heal broken hearts, and give hope to those need it, either to move on or to hope, and for those in need to breath to have a pause, at the same time that you are wishing the best to the couple, you are hoping the best for you, in all the ways possible, because there comes an age that you know that anything could happened, and those moments are priceless. Next time you get invited to a special wedding go, enjoy, feel and hope that things are getting better and things come at the right time. My cousin had to wait, but in that waiting, the wedding arrive to all of us at the right time, so at the end the wait was not wrong, it came at the right time.

The year is almost coming to an end, 2021 was challenging and nourishing at the same time, life changing as always is, is time for the family, good friends and remember that kindness goes all the way.

In good food and warm wishes,

Iliana Lanuza.

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