Another post from guest blogger–my mom. Between planning a wedding, working, and preparing for Christmas, I barely have time to think clearly let alone write. Thanks, mom, for taking over!

For several weeks, Lindsay’s wedding dress hung from the casing of her bedroom door draping its opening. Every morning I woke up to see her ivory gown right outside my bedroom door and every night I couldn’t help but glance once again at the beautiful dress my daughter would wear on the most important day of her life.

Days passed and it was time for her first dress fitting. That meant our hallway was cleared of her wedding gown, and while this may sound weird, I missed it.  Seeing her wedding dress in our home made her wedding seem real, like this time she really was going to get married. So much depended upon that dress.  

This reminded me of a poetry lesson that I taught my students. The poem is called The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams. This 16-word poem is known for its simplicity and its imagery, and it goes like this: So much depends upon a red wheelbarrow glazed with rainwater beside the white chickens. My students pictured a farm and recognized the contrast in color of the shiny red wheelbarrow and the perfectly white chickens. I asked my students to dig deeper—why does so much depend upon such a minor thing as a wheelbarrow? They came up with a variety of ideas like maybe the farmer was busy with other chores and the chickens depended on the grain in the wheelbarrow or maybe the chickens sought refuge from the rain under the wheelbarrow. Eventually our discussion led to a perfectly acceptable answer—maybe so much depends upon capturing the simple beauty of our everyday lives. Maybe so much depends upon what is most important to us.  

Their task was to write their own So Much Depends Upon poem, 16 words about something simple, yet important to them, something that so much depends upon. Before I shared my own poem (it’s called modeling, I get to do this!), I was excited to tell my students that my daughter was getting married, but I also shared with them the circumstances of her situation. With that being said, my students were better able to grasp the deeper meaning behind these simple words.

The Wedding Dress

so much depends

upon

the ivory satin

gown

embroidered with crystal

beads

beside the black

suit.

I think of Shawn so often, their love that was genuine and real, and all else that Lindsay has quietly endured these last twenty-three months without him.  Shawn will always and forever be  a part of Lindsay.  Maybe this is the so much that depends upon her wedding dress—wedding vows, dreams come true, and a lifetime of love for Lindsay and this time Nick. While the images of a beautiful bride in an ivory satin gown standing beside her handsome groom in a black suit are significant in themselves, it is Lindsay’s happiness that is most important to me. We’re in single digits now…only nine more days to wait!  Their wedding will be a beautiful celebration of love beside a genuine, real love that withstands all eternity.