My daughter, the constellation.

My daughter Elise was married last Saturday. I searched for days, wondering what I could say about her to the gathering as father of the bride but when I saw her standing in that dress it took me by surprise and all my words failed me.

Going to so many weddings over the years, you get used to seeing a gorgeous young woman in a white gown that it becomes part of the uniformity of the occasion. Tuxedos, flowers, round tables, ritual, etc. often give the guests too much deja vu.

But the girl in the gown that day shone out at me like a beacon of light, like all the trappings, including the tux I was strapped into, were all part of the invisible dark matter (well, this is an SF blog!) and she was the only particle of light in the whole universe. My! It took my breath away. It wasn't that she was the most beautiful girl in the world (that's a given), it was more: she turned the mundaneries of weddings into an event that I was privileged to witness.

To bring this special relationship that I'm sure many parents feel at their children's weddings, into a perspective that somewhat befits this blog, and follows what I've been saying the past few entries. The universe we see is only visible with the eyes that were evolved to survive in it. Maybe the truly beautiful, rare, and unusual can only be seen when our relationship with it is special.