Officiating at a Loft with a View

L+B married in the fun Manhattan loft of RamScale.  They opted for a standard ceremony, but requested I integrate two quotes they liked.  I wove them into a new mini prelude, which is below.

Every urbanite has witnessed lovers lost in themselves on a train. They gaze adoringly and kiss without care. Delightfully unaware of the strangers rolling their eyes, the pair are too busy memorizing patterns of freckles and the way the subway lights expose hair highlights. These fools – so blind to the despair and exhaustion surrounding them – are the only momentarily emancipated individuals on the train. They are the nimblest in the crowd; anxiety mysteriously vanishes as their connection restores bliss. As Sophocles proposed: “One word frees us of all the weight and pain of life; that word is love.” Shared love is a joyful, uplifting grace. Our partners alleviate our stresses. They are our most generous philanthropists; they give compliments, buy aspirin for headaches, and make us laugh. Sometimes we forget to recall all the little benefits of married life. We ought not to take them for granted, but remain thankful. Goethe deduced that “The sum which two married people owe to one another defies calculation. It is an infinite debt, which can only be discharged through all eternity.” Wedding vows begin a legacy of liberating love in which partners strive to shelter one another from all that is harsh. In return, both receive someone who will try to indulge their whims and be their friend throughout life.