The Insidious Impostor

                                       
   The couple had chosen Friday the 13th as their wedding day.  They told others when they seemed surprised, that they weren't very superstitious and the groom had happened to be born on the 13th so he thought it was a good day.  Some people do think that 13 is a lucky number but I wondered when they chose that date if they weren't tempting fate.
   It rained all day on the day of the wedding, thick clouds with different shades of gray that looked like giant mushrooms covered the sky.   Though there is a superstition that rain on the day of a wedding means good luck to a couple, everyone was praying or hoping that the sky would clear off for the ceremony because it was an outdoor venue.
   I was one of the ones praying knowing that God and angels can have a lot of impact on life and that God and the angels had helped me out through the clouds and sunshine of my life many times.  I began my chant and affirmation that often worked on weather conditions.  "Clouds be gone.  Sun shine on".
       Thick heavy rains were falling and dark clouds hung over the sky like a shroud at 3:00 p.m..  The wedding festivities were to start at 5:00. The weather wasn't looking promising.  At about 4:00 the rains began to stop and the sun started peaking through the clouds.  The chant was working! Tension began at home though  just as we were planning to leave.  Our son was in the military and they had called him to report at the last minute.  He called and told us that the only way he could make it to the wedding was if he wore his fatigues.  I told my husband to call and see if he wanted us to bring him a change of clothes.  I knew the bride might not appreciate it. This was to be her perfectly well planned and beautiful day and army clothes weren't part of the expected attire.
       At 6:00 when we arrived at Log Haven Inn, just a few misty clouds clung to the mountains that were just beginning to turn their pallet to fall.  There were just enough powder puff clouds to make the sky look arty against the soft blue. I shared a prayer of gratitude for answering prayers to make their wedding day a beautiful one.  The angels always like to be thanked!
      When we walked through the door of the inn, the bride's father (my sister's ex-husband) barely acknowledged us.  His mind was on other things. It was a bit off putting  but understandable yet we both wondered if he had been drinking.  The inn looked inviting with lights on the trunks of trees and the vases and flowers accenting the tables and the wedding alter. The mood was elegant and accentuated by the touches of nature but there was one thing that was spoiling the atmosphere. There was one guest that had been invited that was very counter-productive to the whole affair. That guest had been cunning and baffling and destroyed marriages and people's lives and yet family members still invited that guest because they thought it was  necessary and he wore the disguise of a friend. That turncoat friend was a companion at many gatherings even though he frequently brought heartache and sadness to everyone.  The guest was that great impostor "Alcohol."
    Several at the wedding party were alcoholics though some were in denial about it. Some of  those in denial began drinking as soon as cocktail hour began at 5:00. It was hard to tell if the father of the bride, who was an alcoholic, had been drinking. He seemed subdued and nervous. The father of the groom who was also an alcoholic was ,however, too sick to travel and was unable to attend the wedding.  In his early sixties he was bedridden and suffering from dementia caused by his years of abusing alcohol.  Yet the bride and the groom still insisted on alcohol being a welcome guest at their wedding.  Writing on the wall?
     The  moon began to glow as dusk approached.  It was a  half moon and looked like a Yin Yang sign.   It was a realistic moon for the ups and downs of marriage which were sure to come. There was a subtle but present underlying tension as the wedding progressed.  All were trying to create a joyful day for the bride and groom though serious issues lie at the root of many of the family relationships and many of those issues were alcohol related.  The wedding was "looking good" on the outside but not "looking good" on the inside. The ever present influence of that insidious destroyer was always a reminder of what had eroded so many of the family relationships. The families were pretty good at sweeping all of their problems under the rug and pretending they didn't exist, especially tonight. Keep welcoming that great impostor tonight!
     The ceremony was sweet with a planting ceremony representing their life together. Both grandmother's and then mothers added soil to the plant and then the couple added soil and water to make the plant grow. I couldn't help but wonder how much alcohol would also be added to the plant and if the symbolic plant at their wedding would thrive or die under alcohol's onslaught. Not a good omen.
    The non drinkers including myself  left early not wanting to be a part of the wedding when things could get crazier with the addition of drunks on the loose. As I drove down the windy canyon and saw some  police cars lined up on one curve,  I wondered who was the designated driver for some of the couples that were still there and it made me nervous.  Some of those couple's were my grandchildren's parents. I felt sad thinking that though several of  my children had alcoholics in their families and my husband was a recovering alcoholic, five of the six children invited that treacherous traitor into their lives. I had warned them time and time again to the evils of alcohol and two of the children had been in alcohol related car accidents or received drunk driving charges, yet they still hadn't gotten the wake up call that alcohol wasn't their friend. That deceptor is so cunning and so baffling and such a good disguise artist. So many are always fooled by him.
     There was one very important guest that hadn't been invited to the event.  That important person was a power greater than all of them and could have healed and helped them all with their masked and distracted lives. That important person was God.  There was no mention of God or a higher being whatsoever.  The only guest that reigned supreme at the event was that great deceiver and devil in a bottle.