Rhea + Sidney
“So I guess all of this is to say that I vow to hold hope with you and with us.”
Words that could have been written by me, yet they weren’t. Ludovico plays loudly. Purposefully. I’ve cried this week more times than I can recall and I don’t say that to impress anything upon you. I write it because it’s a reminder that with tears now painfully filling my eyes, I know what love and hope is. I know how it grips you so tightly that you would do anything to feel it between your finger tips, to have that breath that only you know, caress your skin, to have that smile you love fill your entire soul. I write it because if all hope fails i’ll have this reminder that I held hope and I cry these tears because yesterday a friend married and the hope he held was fulfilled. In this lifetime sometimes we get one chance, sometimes we get many but those are not ours to decide, yet hope, hope is ours. It is yours and it is is mine and no one can ever take that away from you or I.
”So I guess all of this is to say that I vow to hold hope with you and with us. Whatever life brings us. Through the bad times that may lead you to never wanting to eat homemade pesto pasta again, to good times like these, with our favourite family and friends around us: I vow to spend these moments hopeful and believing in our love.”
These words were written and spoken by Sidney yesterday and delivered to his beautiful wife, Rhea. On occasion in life you find your souls counterpart in another but on other occasions you realise that a friend is so much more like you than you could have ever imagined. That he or she view life in a similar way to you and you think to yourself, how beautiful that this man shares my sentiments and how beautiful it is that his hope prevailed.
Listening to these words and watching Sidney’s face as he spoke them, I was awestruck with admiration and poignant nostalgia. I’ll never forget yesterday. For many reasons. I’ll remember the intimacy, the family members who had travelled half way across the world for Rhea and Sid’s wedding and the family members who couldn’t. I’ll remember the gentleness in Sid’s face and Rheas smile whilst they embraced. I’ll remember the friends who spoke of them, all in their own admiration of accounts they shared during the speeches. I’ll remember the heart felt laughter and joy each and every friend brought to the day. But. Mainly i’ll remember that I vow to hold hope with you and with us. I promised that long ago and that hasn’t changed.
Two days ago I thought I had lost all ability to write, yet here I am and it’s because of yesterday and the day I spent seeing a friend marry. To you Rhea and Sid, I am more thankful than words can express but my heart is in these photos and much of both yours, so I’m hopeful these images are the beginning of my gratitude. Thank you for your vulnerability amongst discomfort, thank you for your trust in me and above all thank you for being two incredibly wonderful humans.
I’m so glad I have met you ~
