Today is Twelfth Night, and today I am getting married.
And today is the last day of my radiation and my chemo, which means that tomorrow I get to remember what it feels like to be (almost!) free of a life dominated by a pill and radiation schedule and the attendant napping obligations that seem to accompany it. It will probably take a while before my body adjusts to normalcy, and it will probably take a while for my face to unpuff itself from all the meds and the radiation. But the process begins after today. And soon I will look and feel like me again.
Thus today is the day I am regarding as the real beginning of the new year and the new decade. Traditionally, it was: Twelfth Night is the last day of Christmas and celebrates the feast day of the Epiphany, when the three magi visited the infant Jesus. It's an important feast day within eastern Orthodox Christianity; in parts of Europe, Twelfth Night is celebrated as almost as a kind of carnival, when things get turned upside-down. In Europe you get to have "king cake," a cake with a bean cooked into it, and the person who gets the slice with the bean gets to be king or queen for the day.
It's a good day to celebrate the beginning of a new life.
And what better way to begin this new start? With a quadruple shot of espresso--otherwise known as "the quad"--out of that fancy espresso machine, of course.
6 comments:
Laurel:
Please know that my heart is full of joy for you. I know that I tend toward the bitter, but I took a second chance, and like C. de Pisan, I have found that "Marriage is a sweet thing". All good things to you both.
Love,
Kristin
Wait, are you really getting married!?! Wow, congratulations! :)
Best wishes to you on such a doubly momentous day!
We are so excited for you and Paul. I can't wait to greet the both of you as a married couple! Enjoy the day, and drink more espresso! Love, George
Congratulations!!! All the best to you!
Kristin, Christine de P. and I are in utter agreement. Consider us a hymeneal chorus.
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