A Muddy Beginning...

I'm standing, rather awkwardly, atop my not-so high heels, feeling them pinch into the sides of my small but unfortunately wide feet, nevertheless singing along to the barely audible music coming from the store across the hallway from the boutique where I am working, moving my feet and feeling rather good that I am here;  my navy and white striped dress clings to the black pantyhose I am wearing, and I have to shimmy it down every once in a while, rather gracelessly I'm afraid.  Smiling at every passerby, hoping that someone will come in and buy SOMEthing, ANYthing, I notice a couple looking into the shop, and so I say 'Bonjour' with my biggest smile.  They both smile back from within the confines of their bundled forms and ask me whether or not we have any white dresses.  Their question takes me a little aback seeing as it is about minus 40 degrees outside with the windchill and all I would want to shop for today would be hats, gloves and scarves.  Nevertheless, they accompany me into the midst of the European clothing maelstrom that is Mode Tout Aller.  I show them a beige dress, and she seems ok with it, peering at it with her light blue eyes and so I ask my heavy-set boss Lucie whether or not it could be dyed white.  Seeing her confusion, the man begins to explain why they are looking for a white dress in the first place, and so here is their lovely story they chose to reveal to us on that chilly and winterlorn Thursday morning.
''Et bien, tu vois, nous cherchons une seconde robe de mariage pour la deuxieme partie de notre mariage.  La premiere robe a déjà été choisit et la je vais vous compter notre concept.''
''Oui, la premiere robe c'est la robe de ma mere qu'elle est en train de modifier pour moi,''  The strawberry blonde and purple-clad glasses woman interjects, her pale blue eyes lighting up from within and a huge grin plastering her pale face.
 ''Donc, pour la premiere partie de la ceremonie, nous allons faire un trajet dans la bouette sur des quatre par quatre - elle va etre dans sa robe de marier, moi dans mon habit, avec des bottes de pluie...''
I am assuming at this point that my smiling face and bewildered eyes speak for themselves since the Young-looking woman adds, ''Ma mere est au courant que sa robe de marier va etre completement trasher, et c'est ca un peu l'idee car ce mariage n'a pas durer...''
The long, two-toned coloured haired man turns to Lucie and begins to explain, ''Tu vois, la vie c'est comme un parcours dans la bouette, et le mariage aussi... parfois, c'est elle qui va me guider dans la bouette de la vie, par dessous les cotes et les roches, et d'autres fois ca va etre moi qui va l'aider...''
He turns towards me and continues, his eyes shining with the love he feels for his beaming fiance, ''Y'a différents mariages de nos jours: civil que nous ne voulions pas car nous sommes pas vraiment conformistes, religieux qui ne rentre pas dans nos idees non plus, et le mariage symbolique que nous avons choisit.''
My eyes unwillingly well with tears as I think of my own past love stories and how I had pictured my life as being different than what it is at this moment in time... in a lot of ways, my life is BETTER than what it could have been.  Had I married the man who contributed at least physically to making my beautiful son, our life, that of me and my son, would not have been what it is now, which is, despite mommy's human failures and mistakes, a lot less miserable than what it would have been WITH Zach's sperm-donor of a father.
Finally, Lucie pulls down a very simple yet oh-so-perfect white dress that fits the couple's simple yet romantic style... the soon-to-be bride prances into the dressing room and exits looking as gorgeous as a Grecian goddess of times past.  The top part of the dress hugs her with all of its little ripples and pleats and the thick and lacy straps add a respectable hint of modesty;  the flowing bottom half of the dress swooshes around the beloved's hips and flows to the ground, ending with some old-fashioned lace that will of course need to be hemmed, given the young lady's small stature. 
Lucie decides to lower the price of the dress after seeing the woman's happiness.  She even offers to go with her to the tailor's in order to see what can be done to shorten the lovely dress that will complete the rest of the couple's wedding day during the second half of their ceremony that will take place in a more traditional restaurant setting.
After we have exchanged a little more conversation, they leave hand in hand, and I marvel that any Young couple of today would choose to get married - and yet, my romantic heart beats a little quicker since it has not become SO jaded that it has completely given up on the idea that a happy mariage can be experienced by two loving parties... I wish those two all of the happiness in the world and may they guide each other through all of life's valleys, hills, rivers, mudslides, puddles, mountains and caves, but may they also walk lovingly hand in hand when fortune decides to shine on their union and their love.