Gnomon for Brian and Dana

The angular piece of a sundial, the blade which casts a shadow to mark the hours, is the gnomon; used in a literary sense, it indicates milestones of time, a marker of life's significant events.  Would you think a ceremony, a signed paper, a broken plate change feelings?  I will bet you ten dollars it does, for it's a promise; not that the words or actions prior meant nothing.  Dana and Brian both have upheld and made sacrifices for the other, and I never imagined them breaking apart, but here is a view of the page some couples will turn.

You're more settled with yourself, and may describe the sensation as a profound recognition of creating something good; Brian and Dana have been building upon what works and what doesn't for years, but I wonder if seeing friends decide to embark, they recognize how their own perceptions of those friends may have changed due to respect of the solidifying process.  Those that know you will look at you differently, for that big step has been taken. It's a lovely thing, marriage.

It takes active work to maintain, it doesn't make you more grown up, change your personality, your partner's personality, or the cat's.  You reflect on what you can do to make it work, and you make sacrifices.  There is no 50-50, sometimes it's 80-20, get on with it; marriage does not invite instant glorification of your partner; that should have been figured out beforehand.  

You're calmer in knowing that someone is there for you, to support your dreams, to talk to any time you need them, to go places with.  Dana and Brian will live longer, married, if statistics prove correct.  Healthwise, each will benefit.  The security and comfort of having another person who loves you by your side will cause mountains to fall to their knees.

You are committed not so much to the piece of paper, but to each other; you believe that your partner is in it for the long haul and they are; to them you are smart, capable, compassionate, and reliable.  Faithful is a pretty good point of reference also.  No person or activity comes before the relationship; yes, there is your own time, yes, you need personal space to recharge, but essentially it goes from "me" to "us".

Bri and Dana pretty much have this down, but still, I believe there will be a new marker; they will remember the date, the anniversary, the time of.  Our families will come together and grow, the ripples expand, a new cycle begin.

The sun is on the other side of five o'clock, in a descent to the horizon; the last yellow rays are bouncing off slate grey autumn clouds, the kind that look like they could drop six inches of snow in an hour.  Fathers are visiting with sons, mothers have come together and slapped high fives, (right, Dorian?).  Whispers of colder weather will be underscored by the time change next Friday, Halloween at midnight.  Ah, blankets, shake them out; if you are lucky to have a clothesline, hang them outdoors for an hour; breathe in the leafy air, the tannin and damp earth quietly settling from the summer hustle here in the north.  Sleep, hold, yes, and yes.  Good night.