Warning! Mushiness ahead! (I hope you'll forgive me)

It wasn't meant to be a fancy occasion, which made it, paradoxically, all the more memorable. I mean, think about it -- how many sisters have arrived at their brothers' weddings in a limosine, or a car? I got to my brother's wedding on a bicycle, which I rode through the sand streets. I surprised one sunning iguana and chased him through a puddle. That, I will never forget. That, and some other things...

Of course, there's the often-awkward meeting of families; parents who don't know one another that well (and may or may not like each other) are bound, for that one day, to celebrate their children's choice of partner, and that partner's family. I didn't really know the Allen's very well, and I probably won't see them very often, but it's easy to become comfortable with people when you're all on the same small island, and none of you can go a day without randomly running into one another (at the beach, at dinner, around the town). Also, it's hard to remain perfectly coiffed when it's 35 degrees, and being a little rumpled around the edges makes everyone more likable.

Most weddings have a cake-cutting ceremony, and we did have that. But we also had a Julia-cutting ceremony, Julia being the 25 pound watermelon that M's mother bought. (Don't ask me why it was named Julia -- it was written on the side of the watermelon before it was bought).

And of course, there was the ceremony itself -- short, sweet, and very picturesque. The Spanish priest was soft-spoken and sincere, the fresh-picked flowers M. held in a cup of water were beautiful, and my brother was grinning like his face would split. That wide-mouthed smile that charmed me when I was small, that has always made babies love him, that stretches up into the far reaches of his face and lights up his eyes -- that smile was all for M., who grinned right back. As their they said in their vows, they were two "free and unconstrained souls" pledging themselves to each other "with all their strengths and faults," in front of God and their families as witnesses.

They are happy, and I am happy for them. Long may they smile at each other.