Heart-Broken Goose

Lina and I were married five years ago. It was a beautiful October Fall day. Crisp, sunny, cooler but not cold. April may be the cruelest month:

I. THE BURIAL OF THE DEAD APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering	5
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland But October is the most melancholic month. Halloween can be quite a spiritual observance about the cycles of life and death, growth and decay, and ultimately about letting go. We are not all in charge of the universe and the sooner we gain humility and gratefulness to God for every miraculous breath, our souls will worship more just than the stuff on the horizontal plane. When Lina were visiting location for our marriage ceremony and reception, we ran the gamut. From the low-budget firehouse to the mid-priced city building to the wondrous and pricey Lamont Farms overlooking the Susquehanna River, we spanned the economic spectrum. We ultimately selected Lamont Farms with no regrets and beautiful memories and the pictures to prove it. One of the locations we visited before making the final call was the Lancaster Country Winery. It was a misty and cool Saturday morning as we met with the proprietor. I think the deal-breaker was we had to serve its wines at our reception...no award-winning vino. As we chatted with the owner, a wail emanated from the post-harvest cornfield. I looked out across the dying corn and saw a solitary goose out in the field. The proprietor explained that the male goose had lost his life partner several moons before and was in a perpetual state of grief and loss. I got schooled that day by a lonesome and heart-broken goose about the beauties of lifelong commitment and the deep sorrows of profound loss. God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, but this goose had a golden heart, one that puts to shame of fickle affections and attachments we have towards each other and our Creator. Who is the fool...the goose or man? If you are on a hard road in your marriage, fight for it rather than against it. Again, fight for it not against it. May we be overcome by the melancholic beauty of the cries of the heart-broken goose.