“Something old, something new, something borrowed… what am I forgetting?” I asked aloud, mostly to myself, but I received a response anyway.
“Something Blue!” my mother called from the other room.
Of course! How had I forgotten? I had this planned for years. I was supposed to walk down the isle in thirty seconds, I frantically opened the special compartment in my jewelry box to retrieve the blue feather. It was royal blue with hints of aqua and navy. The tips were sliver and sparkling. It was five inches long and silky smooth. Carefully, I pinned the feather into my hair, I used three bobby pins just to be sure it was securely in place, and began my journey down the isle.
This feather was the last reminder I had of my best friend form my childhood. His name was Eben.
Everything about Eben was unique, form his name to his favorite color -crimson- but the most unusual thing about him was his head. Where most people grew hair, Eben grew magnificent blue feathers. They were breathtaking. Each one was different from another, yet that all worked together so well, like paint being swirled together in the most captivating way. His head looked like a canvas that might be hung in a museum of abstract art. One glance could leave a person speechless, though he didn’t interact with many people. Eben was often ridiculed for his feathers, but, I still believe that every one of his bullies was merely jealous.
Eben didn’t go to public school after kindergarten (where we met). He became home schooled to avoid being an outcast. We stayed in touch though, I was his only friend. Everyday after school I would ride my bike to his house and we’d swing in his backyard for hours. Then, we’d watch our favorite T.V. show: ‘Benny the Adventurer.’ After that I’d reluctantly go home, wishing I never had to leave. On weekends we’d spend all day together, from dawn until dusk. We’d swing, ride bikes, jump rope, watch movies, climb trees, and do everything in between.
We rarely ran into judgmental people, but if anyone ever said an awful word about Eben I would beat them senseless, demanding an apology. Eben was shy and timid, and I have always been defensive of the people I care about. I remember one summer; I was teaching Eben to swim in a lake by his house when a girl from school saw us.
“Birds don’t swim!” she proclaimed with a smirk
. I was out of the water charging towards her before she could even have time to blink. In the moment of my rage, I was able to tackle her. She was wailing, with a look of terror in her eyes.
I pinned her down, got up real close to her face and yelled, “If he’s a bird, then you are a fat insensitive whale!” before giving her a black eye.
That girl never so much as looked at Eben or I the wrong way again. As we grew older, Eben become more and more reserved from the outside world. He preferred to stay indoors rather than go to the park or the lake. By age fourteen he rarely left the comfort of his home, except when absolutely necessary. Even then he wore a hat, hiding his feathers from the world. I always told him how stunning his feathers were, but he never believed my words were sincere. He always thought my compliments were out of pity.
Never able to see the true nature of his beauty, Eben made countless efforts to chop off his feathers. But no sooner than they fell to the ground, did new ones grow in their place. His feathers gave him a look of power, authority, nobility, and grace. He portrayed the true essence of a leader. But when you looked him in the eyes, that image vanished. You could see how insecure he was, his eyes were full of self doubt, and it was apparent that he wanted nothing more than to just be ‘normal.’ It made me sad to think that Eben couldn’t see himself as I saw him. I wish there was something I could do to make him realize just how mesmerizing his long, silky, vibrant feathers were.
One day when we were fifteen, he was feeling so down on his appearance that he wouldn’t even let me come over, for fear I would realize how atrocious he was and be frightened away by his self proclaimed ‘horrendous feathers.’ Frustrated, I ran to his house as quickly as I could, but when I got there I was unable to think of what to say. Any compliment or reassuring gesture would be taken as insincere. So I did the only thing I could think of, I charged into his room, and before he could protest I had my lips pressed against his. It was my first kiss and his too.
Eben looked at me, stunned. And I said the only thing that seemed right, “You are the most beautiful person.” And I plucked out a single feather from his head as I said goodbye to my best friend, because from that moment on, we became so much more than that.
As soon as I returned home I placed his feather in the special compartment of my jewelry box vowing that I would wear it on my wedding day as my ‘something blue’ regardless of who my groom might be.
From the night we had our first kiss, Eben and I never parted, and even though neither of us thought it was possible, we got to know each other even better.
On my twenty third birthday Eben proposed. We were out in the back of his old house, he was pushing me on the swing we played on as kids. Suddenly I didn’t feel the force of his hands on my back as I swung towards him. I glanced back to see what he was doing but he was no longer behind me. Flustered I looked forward again, and there he was, on one knee with a sterling silver ring in his hands, it was lined with sapphires and had a modest diamond in the center.
My eyes teared up and my throat felt as though it had a lump in it as he shyly said “You are the most beautiful person, will you bless my life with your beauty and grace by doing me the honor of being my wife?”
And here I am, one year later walking down the isle, looking at the most remarkable man in the world. I don’t understand how such a divine looking person could ever be insecure. It’s genuinely impossible for me to put into words how lucky I feel to be marrying someone so unique. Everyone I meet pales in comparison to him. As I reach the end of the isle, and stand beside my soon to be husband, I am more than ready to be Mrs. Eben Azure.
