My Sister Made Me Cry

I love what I do, and this particular wedding ceremony was filled with a special kind of love because I got to join my little brother in marriage to his partner of 25 years, the mother of his children, and the woman who keeps everything organized in their life. (Yes, these are all the same woman). 

Their ceremony took place with family and friends at the park where their children played as kids.  Now grown, my niece and nephew acted as witnesses to their parent's marriage.  

To make up for making him cry, I invited my brother to write a post on my blog about his wedding ceremony. ​

​The last time my older sister, Lorraine Cowan, made me cry was probably when I was a little kid and she wouldn’t let me watch the third period of a Canadiens game on the one black-and-white TV we had in the house when our parents were out on a Saturday night.

Yes, that was a long time ago.
 
This latest time they were tears of joy as Lorraine was the Celebrant for my marriage to Sylvia Haley.  This was after we had already been together for 25 years, had two kids, four dogs and a mortgage. 
 
Sylvia and I had talked about getting married for a long time, but just never got around to it as life kept somehow getting in the way. But I’m glad we waited so long because if we had done it years earlier, Lorraine wouldn’t have been our Celebrant because she only started her new job a few years ago. 
 
Actually, I shouldn’t call it a job. After years working in the insurance industry — that was a job — Lorraine has found a real passion and joy in her role as a Life Cycle Celebrant.  I think she enjoyed our wedding as much as we did — and I’m sure other people she has married would say the same thing. She absolutely loves her new work.
 
Lorraine has an incredible talent for telling a love story - and isn’t that what a wedding ceremony should be about? 
 
She has the gift of a writer, and as the former sports editor and now a sports columnist at the Montreal Gazette, I think I’m a pretty good judge of impressive writing and story-telling. 
​
You could say I’m biased — and maybe I am just a little bit — because she’s my sister. But remember, she wouldn’t let me watch the end of Hockey Night in Canada when I was a little kid because there was something else on TV she wanted to see. I still remember that.
 
Lorraine has the ability to tell the story about how a couple like Sylvia and I met, fell in love, went through ups and downs and then decided to get married. Every couple’s story is different and fascinating. 
 
I wasn’t the only one who cried at our wedding — there were tears in the eyes of many of the friends and family members in attendance.
 
Tears of joy.
 
They are a lot better than tears over a hockey game.
 
 Stu Cowan