Mumsnet Talk

My lovely MIL has asked me to do a reading for her marriage ceremony. She is remarrying my FIL after having been divorced for about 10 years.

When they split up he left her suddenly and she was heartbroken at the time. I think he was having an affair, and he subsequently bought a house and lived with a lady for a few years before having an affair with my MIL!

They have been back together for about 4 years now, so this is obviously something they've taken time to think about, and it has taken me a while to accept FIL back into my world again, but we're there I think.

I'm struggling to find a reading though. The ceremony will be in a hotel, and it will be a civil service. I would like to try and find something that acknowledges the history, but perhaps talks about fresh starts.

Any ideas?

No idea fourarms!! Just wanted to say hello!

A difficult one!

A Witnessing

This should be said
without a word,
the briefest touch, a smile instead
as, in families and between friend and friend,
the truly important things are said and heard,
but we are at a witnessing, when
truthsaying plays a part
and we declare aloud what’s said already in our hearts.

So, first, by being here, we say that we approve,
proclaim ourselves complicit.
We wish it,
this good and proper naming of your love.

Then, we hail
your partnership’s unfurling sails
with joy –
that sweet and salt-free word that sits
so coyly
with us ocean-going, no-emotion-showing Brits.

And then, we wish your voyage well.
No wreck -
no reef, no rocks to run aground on,
no burning deck
to stand on -
but a rich cargo in the hold.
Gold enough,
and silks and all the finest,
Calvin Kleinest stuff,
and spice, of course, to set ablaze
the dullest doldrum-days.

And then, we say
remember us who wave you on your way.
May you enjoy your wide blue wander,
growing fonder
with each mile
and on every desert isle
where buried pleasures lie
find that spot marked X

(and forgoing easier rhymes
and rhythms, try the more complex)
and return with tales of balmier climes
where springs of Bushmills flow
and everyone’s a poet,
but meanwhile, let us know your vessel
didn’t sink.
Send us messages in bottles -
just the one word, “Drink”.

Now to our last and lasting task -
we will not fail
to say, if asked:
Yes, we were here. We witnessed this.
The omens were auspicious
and your new ship set sail
on a flood tide of good wishes.

It's not a reading, but your story reminded me of a song - The Second Time Around and I wondered whether the lyrics could be read...

The Second Time Around (Cahn, Sammy; Van Heusen, James)

Love is lovelier
The second time around
Just as wonderful
With both feet on the ground

It's the second time you hear
Your love song sung
Makes you think perhaps that love like youth
Is wasted on the young.

Love's more comfortable
The second time you fall
Like a friendly home
The second time you call.

Who can say
What brought us to this miracle we've found
There are those who'd bet
Love comes but once and yet

I'm oh so glad we met
The second time around.

Van Morrison

I can hear the sound of violins
I can hear the piper play
And every time the song begins
You just steal my heart away

The journey's longer than
I thought my love
There's lots of things
Get in the way
But every time I think of you
You just steal my heart away

Just like a morning
In May like this
See the heather on the hill
There's a place way up
The mountainside
Where the world
Keeps standing still

Just like the sunshine after rain
I'll come
To be with you will save the day
'Cos I know
When I'm with you again
You just steal my heart away

Just like a morning
In May like this
We see the heather on the hill
There's a place up on
The mountainside
Where the world is
Standing still

Just like the sunshine after rain I'll come
To be with you will save the day 'cos I know
When I'm with you again
You just steal my heart away

I really like that one, thanks!

And hi to you too Ooogs!! How's Devon? As wet and windy as Gloucestershire?!?

Probably not a great reading but I love the sentiment if sunshine after rain (pain)

Sorry - x-posted. First msg was for AM - will read the others now!

Thanks for those too - gives me hope that I'll find something appropriate! Second time around is very apt! All goose bumpy now reading them!!

Sounds like you need something that says "yep, we're here" not necessarily gushing

Liking this one too!

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin

Louis de Bernieres

Love is a temporary madness,
it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides.
And when it subsides you have to make a decision.
You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together
that it is inconceivable that you should ever part.
Because this is what love is.
Love is not breathlessness,
it is not excitement,
it is not the promulgation of eternal passion.
That is just being “in love” which any fool can do.
Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away,
and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.
Those that truly love, have roots that grow towards each other underground,
and when all the pretty blossom have fallen from their branches,
they find that they are one tree and not two.

Very wet & windy down here too!!