I love Nilly, and last night I had the ultimate prove for it: I wore pantyhose, the evilest of all clothing attire, to meet the modesty's requirement for religious weddings.
Oh, wait. This is how this post wasn't meant to be opened.
I love Nilly, and no doubt the rest of the few hundreds that arrived to her wedding felt the same. When I walked around there, I felt soaked in love - and that was just me, a guest! So I can't imagine what it must have felt like to Nilly. I basked in that feeling for at least 30-40 minutes, just going around the room, feeling comfortable smiling and greeting even people I don't really know.
But the real greeter was Nilly. Walking into the room where she had so many guests to greet (and a chair just for her!), she looked more beautiful and radiant than I ever remembered her. And smiling, smiling and smiling. And the thing about Nilly, you know, is that she does everything with full intent. I have no idea how many problems were solved and crisises been avoided, but I've seen her handling several - and moving from one to another smiling. I don't think she even noticed them, for after every time her face got serious for a few seconds, handling a situation or another, she was back with the happys.
And when someone's like this, you just wanna be around them. I mean, just by looking at Nilly's smiling pictures from last night I can't help but smiling and melting and wanting to be around her and this event, again.
After a while, H. came to Nilly. The awesome band then joined him. It was wonderful. After that, Nilly stayed on her chair, turning everything and everyone away for a few minutes, saying prayer on behalf of those who asked her to. Again, with nothing but full intent, just like the one she'll be showing during the chuppah, switching between the seriousness and the meaningfulness of the prayers, the smiling and laughter all along, and the love, love, love that was in the room. The ceremony was conducted by one of the major rabbis in Israel, Rabbi Drukman, and it was wonderful. Between the parts that usually silence fills, the band was playing. A lot of relatives graced them from the chuppah itself, too.
And after it, came the food. And the dancing. So much dancing! I mean, I danced a lot, but Nilly danced at least 6 times more than me by the time I left the wedding. With everyone (females), almost everytime, stopping to take her picture with a guest from time to time, and slipping into the men's dancing section from time to time, to see and dance with and take her pictures with H. and the men.
All in all: There's a part of me that thinks that when Nilly wrote "one night to rule them all" she truly meant it, for she was ruling everything and everyone just by entering with her smile and grace into everyone's hearts. I've been there for 4 and a half hours, and it felt like 45 minutes, tops. Nilly, I hope the joy and happiness that was all over in your wedding will escort you and H. to your new lives and always be there. It was truly amazing. Thank you.
I hope the pictures, once that Nilly will approve them to be public, will clarify the things that I can't put into words. Because this post feels too little for such a joyful event.