Church Bells Still Ring

I heard them today after the pastor declared triumphantly, "I now pronounce you man and wife." My son kissed his bride once, twice, three times with a careless embrace to follow. The wedding bells punctuated the nuptial celebration like an exclamation mark.

Suburbia dwellers don't hear them much. Not in the sprawl of Orange County nor in the western neighborhoods of South Florida. There is not a tone to be heard. In Thousand Oaks, bells sounded the time every hour, echoing from California Lutheran University about a mile away.

It had been years, but I heard them pealing above the vaulted church ceiling into the late May, Ceylon blue sky, proclaiming to the world that love is alive and well.

Love was no more abundant than within those chapel walls. And the bells burst out the good news for all to hear!

Love, barely contained inside two individuals, so full, that it spilled out onto every friend, relative and acquaintance beholding their union. My first-born son and the beautiful young woman whose warmth and genuineness is only equal to her wit, intelligence and brown-eyed beauty. A new daughter!!! How wonderful!

The church bells clanged and donged and rang, amplifying the joy in my heart and in the hearts around me. Oscar Rogers said it best in the theme song from The Sound of Music:

My heart wants to sigh 
like a chime that flies 
from a church on a breeze

The tenderness of heart was not just found in the the wedding pair, but found in their friends, also. The flood of affection could be seen at every turn during the ceremony. In the songs, the singers, the scripture readers, and in the father of the the bride.

Oh! the father of the bride! He had us all reaching for our handkerchiefs. At the front of the aisle, giving away his daughter, he touched my son's arm and said, "This is my princess. She never thought she could find someone who'd love her the way I do . But now she has. You are the one. Love her. Protect her. Cherish her."

After that, we were all a teary mess; bridesmaids pulling tissue out of their bodices to share with the others.

At the reception, the detail of decorations created by the bridesmaids showed even more affection. Married at 28 these friendships were true and vetted by time

But the keystone was at the dance. The group had a theme song that went,  "...You are my friend! You'll never be alone again". The anthem rose in excitement and volume until brother Jesse and friends hoisted up the groom.Then, right on cue, the bridesmaids and other men hoisted up the bride, bride and groom, carried on shoulders, shouting the refrain below to the dance floor full of bouncing friends, joyously churning like choppy ocean waves!

 .You are my friend! You'll never be alone again!!!

They sang that song at all their friends' weddings, but this was the first time they sang it TO each other!

A stupendous moment, never to be forgotten or diminished by time or hardship.That's friendship. That's marriage. Yes, that's forever love -

Ian Joseph Jones photography

Overflowing from a wedding couple and good friends.

Church bells still ring, and love is still found in the world!

Ian Joseph Jones photography