three weeks of home

Dear readers,

I've been remiss in my efforts to update this blog since leaving the west coast...there is much to tell from the end (and middle, and beginning!) of my month headed westward, and now of course, life has continued on in its particular way and after three weeks in New England, it seems there is even more I wish to encapsulate in a post on this little page of memories.

Well, the last shall be first and the first last today.

I haven't had sufficient time yet, but hope to in the coming days, to delve into the history and symbolism of the walking parts of ceremonies. This thought popped into my brain yesterday, seated in front of my large IMac screen eating breakfast and watching the livestream of the Wellesley commencement ceremony. Why is the walking part such an important part of the proceedings?

My second-oldest friend, who I've known since the 7th grade, got married last Sunday. Where did it come from that the bride walks down the aisle with everyone on their feet to honor her? I'm sure there is folk history, military history, even biblical and literary history behind this, and I am ravenously interested to read through it all. The symbolic side to me is of course obvious; here, the examples of weddings and graduations, the public is gathered together to witness a symbolic representation of that which has already been in the works, but is taking an official title. The student has studied years and years, and has achieved academic completion, so we watch the student walk in as just a student, receive the diploma, and then walk out as a graduate. The bride walks in on her own, with potentially her father or mentor-figure at her side, and then she swears the vows and oaths to her partner, and they walk out together, as something joined and new and official. But how did it all start, how did the walking become an integral part of the ceremony?

As someone who is a bit kooky about walking and has written lengthy previous posts on this topic, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I 1) adore the walking part of ceremonies and 2) want to find some connection between solvitur ambulando and ceremonial processing.

I'm hoping the swirl of questions and thematic buzzing stimulated by the ceremonies of the last few weeks will settle into something cohesive and useful. Tis the season for weddings and graduations, and after a lengthy season of funerals and memorials, I'm grateful for the joyful occasions. It's funny, though, how exhausted I've been in the aftermath of my friend's wedding. I wasn't even the one getting married, but I've been so tired I've slept 13+ hours every night since Sunday. I guess being overwhelmed with happiness and working hard as a professional bridesmaid (as we four friends now call ourselves) really takes it out of you.

My bridesmaid and birthday month duties and plans having been dutifully fulfilled, I'm now excited to be starting out on my next mini-adventure. In a few hours, I'll be wandering over to L'Abri Fellowship in Southborough, to spend five days studying, talking, and certainly gardening and cooking with the staff and other students in residence. It's a place where I've always wanted to go spend some time, and I think I finally have enough ideas and questions amassed to have it well spent. I'm not going to have a computer there, and there's not really internet access anyway, so I'll leave a summary of my upcoming plans in a subsequent post here.

It has been so, so good to be back-- to take a deep breath and do some celebrating and ice-cream eating before getting back to the wandering.

-lab