Royal wedding - Technicolor Radio

I was appalled at the degree of hyperbole ridden tosh that emanated from my radio as I rushed around yesterday. From the Radio Four commentator who spoke of the event being a 'technicolor radio' event (we have colour radio?) to the dopey woman who informed us that 'the dress' was a classically futuristic creation that timelessly looks to the future (what?????) and culiminated in the most awful comment of all, "A royal wedding is all about a new future for the couple!

Every wedding is about a new future for the couple. Duh!

For me, marriage is about three things:

Leaving
The whole point of marriage is to form a new family unit. This means leaving one's family and friends (not abandoning them) and committing into that new relationship. It means that one listens to the advice of parents and friends, but living in the the knowledge that they neither rule, own or command anything regarding the new family unit.

Cleaving
Yee ha, the sex bit (I hear you cry)! Well yes it is, but it is more than just that, it's about being responsive to each other and warm, loving and intimate (which is more than the mere wham, bam, thank you ma'am that the world talks of).

Becoming One
For many new family units this is the greatest challenge, for it relates to having one name (which I do think is an important part) and one identity, one hope, one goal and one purpose together. It is about joint accounts, not individual identities and bank balances living together. Setting up home and having sex and playing happy families is great, but who are you as a couple? What do you want and what are you going to share and enjoy together? These are the important issues that often fail to be addressed and bring so many to my door telling me how they've fallen in love with someone else. Each of us is an individual and in marriage, the two people are joined together that they are an individual too!

So as the royals start their life together, my prayer is the same for them as the others I meet with:

May God draw you together, make one one in heart, body, mind and spirit and lead you into that place where the line that separates you slowly fades that you cant's see the join. May family and friends be there to support and advise but never to control and may no one, and nothing come between you and the focus of your love today. May you share visions, dreams and goals and may they become reality for you as you grow deeper together as one. Amen.