I visited Steve and Rachel this morning, to find out how the very brief honeymoon had gone and how Rachel was feeling. Now that the wedding and baptism is over, I rather expected some fallout in her physical condition, but not a bit of it.
They had a wonderful two days at the hotel, who had upgraded them to an executive suite, presented them with a bottle of champagne, and produced room service for all their meals.
Rachel was able to eat a full meal for the first time in over a week. She had been existing on half a slice of dry toast, which was all she could manage without throwing up, but the doctor has altered her steroids and she hasn’t been sick since her wedding day. The headaches are not quite so bad either, so at the moment, things are looking better.
Yesterday was little Sam’s first birthday, and they managed a party for him with the grandparents. He’s nearly walking, pulling himself up on the furniture and walking round it.
The Willow Foundation, which provides relief for terminally ill 18-40 year olds, has stumped up for a family holiday for Steve, Rachel, Sam and the grandparents, so Rachel’s next goal is the last week in October, when they’ll go to the coast locally for a week spent in three static caravans.
They’re making such good memories, and Rachel is writing to all of her friends before she dies. Isn’t that great?
Ed and I had a great weekend, which was lovely after such an emotionally demanding week.
On Saturday we went to the golden wedding of friends of ours. They were married very young, but against the forebodings of both sets of parents, the marriage worked. They produced four sons, all now grown up and three with children of their own.
Our friends have been farmers all their lives, and now live in a beautiful farmhouse on several acres of land, with the most gorgeous garden leading to a pond which is stocked with fish (except when the heron has visited!) But on Saturday is was pouring with rain all day and blowing a gale, so we were pleased to get into the marquee erected for the occasion.
There were well over a hundred guests, and we were on a table with old friends that we hadn’t seen for twenty five years. It was great – good food, good company, and great fun.
Yesterday we went back to the old parish for lunch with our previous next-door neighbour. She had invited another couple as well, and it was so good – again – to meet up with old friends. On the way home we called in on our son who lives in the same village, and had a pleasant half hour and a cup of tea with him.
So a relaxing and very enjoyable weekend for us. Hope you all had a good weekend, too.
Yesterday was little Sam’s baptism.
What I hadn’t quite appreciated, was that Rachel was going to make the entrance she would have made if it had been her wedding as planned. My first hint of this came when Steve arrived early, dressed in his wedding gear complete with smart, light green cravat.
(Actually, I made a big mistake prior to that. When I arrived, and hour before the service was due to start, Steve was already there with some friends, standing in the porch.
“Hello,” I said. “How are things? Everything OK?”
He looked at me as if I was slightly barmy, and said, “Er, I’m Adam, Steve’s identical twin brother.”
Until then, I didn’t know he had a twin….)
Rachel was so late arriving that I began to get seriously worried. Was she too ill to come? Fortunately, her new father-in-law came out to see what was going on, and had his mobile phone with him. He rang Rachel, who said, yes, they were in the car, en route.
It was so difficult for her to get out of the car and into the wheelchair, but she managed. She was wearing her gorgeous white wedding dress, with a white bandanna covering her lack of hair, her face was made up and her nails had been done. She was beautiful. Her father pushed her down the aisle accompanied by her bridesmaid and page boy, and when she reached the front I started the service by blessing yesterday’s wedding.
Then we launched into the baptism, which went well.
I used bubbles for the prayers, explaining that bubbles are beautiful but ephemeral. They burst, but we hold onto their beauty. And each bubble contains a rainbow, the sign God put in the sky after Noah’s flood, to tell us that God is with us. Then people make their own prayers (I suggest headings) and attach them to the bubbles.
After the service there were lots of photos in church – making memories for little Sam – and eventually I slipped away and left them to it.
I do hope they have a really good weekend. They’re going to a local hotel for a meal, then Steve and Rachel are staying there for a day or two, for their honeymoon.
May this courageous and wonderful couple enjoy every minute of it.
Remember me telling you about Steve and Rachel? They’re the young couple who rang me last month to book a wedding and baptism combined, at very short notice because Rachel is terminally ill.
The service is scheduled for tomorrow, so I went to see the young couple again this week, just to go over the final details. Rachel is now feeling very ill and suffering from severe headaches and sickness, but we sorted out the service just as they wanted it.
This morning I had an early – and urgent – phone call from Steve. Rachel was feeling so unwell that he asked if we could we bring the wedding forward to today, with just his parents and her parents, instead of tomorrow with all the guests.
“Yes,” I said, “I’ll come to your house this morning and conduct the ceremony.”
That’s when the problems started. Paul (the rector) rang the archdeacon to see whether that was OK. The archdeacon told him to ring the legal eagle, who said no, it wasn’t OK at all. To do that, I would need to get a special licence. So Paul rang the registrar, only to find that there was an answer phone message saying the registrar was unavailable, but no means of leaving your own message or getting in touch with him.
In the end, Steve and Rachel came to the church with little Sam and both sets of parents. We had a quiet, but intensely moving service, especially the bit where they promise to love each other “In sickness and in health” and “‘Til death do us part.” That was very hard to say, and hear, and very emotional. We all had tears at that point. Rachel – who is amazing – helped us all through it by reading the words without faltering, and Steve – who is equally amazing – managed to say the words with a smile of love on his face.
The the couple said their own special words to each other, spoken from the bottom of their hearts. They said how they had fallen in love at first sight and would love each other for ever. And Rachel added her thanks, for all that Steve does for her.
A fantastic couple, full of courage and overflowing with love.
Life can be so cruel, but tomorrow is the baptism with thirty or so guests,so hopefully a joyful occasion.
We need your prayers, please.
Ed and I have been blackberrying. It has a nice, English romantic feel to it, of halcyon days in the Autumn sunlight retrieving the fruits of the hedgerows.
Well, we picked half a container (a small container) and stewed them with apples for apple and blackberry crumble. It was good.
There’s probably another week or so of blackberries before they finally turn up their toes for the winter. The trick is to find some secluded hedgerow which hasn’t already been denuded by hordes of pensioners.
We’re trying to keep up the walking we started in Ireland, so this morning drove to Ranworth Broad (the Norfolk Broads are like lakes, full of wild life) which is only about twenty minutes away by car. We walked for around four miles (which was plenty!) but didn’t see much in the way of natural woodland species other than some tiny, delicate wild orchids on the nature reserve, and one dead vole.
Still, the weather was good and we’re left feeling suitably smug and self-satisfied by our efforts at exercise.
Can’t be bad.