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{From the Trenches} A Full Recovery

Ladies… This is Filippa.

This is Filippa. Yes, she always looks this good. It’s amazing.

Filippa is my Work Friend. She was kind enough to take me out to lunch on my first Friday in the office, and made polite small talk as she lead me through midtown, pointing out where I can get a good cup of coffee and find the best salads. She helped me navigate Duke’s, and asked sweet questions about my upcoming wedding, and didn’t bat an eyelash as I sucked in a deep breath and said, evenly, “OK. Be really honest with me. Give me the office breakdown.”

She burst out laughing, her whole pretty face lighting up, and sighed, “Oh, I am so glad you cut right to the chase.” We’ve been friends ever since.

There is a special place in Heaven for women who watch other women’s backs. She gently helped me navigate the waters of the office, making sure I didn’t commit any taboo faux-pas, making sure I knew where to find the white out and the highlighters… Showing me where to find the secret Keurig machine.

She hugged me and wished me luck as I bustled out of the office the last day before the wedding. She squealed with delight as I presented her with a seating card from the wedding (one featuring Queen Alice, which would have put her at my table) and her own half-wreath of paper flowers and pinwheels. She complimented my dress and raved about our perfect weather and I could tell by the way her eyes sparkled that she was truly happy for me.

Do you know how rare that is, girls? Do you know how precious it is to find a woman at work who goes out of her way to show kindness to the new girl? Gratitude doesn’t begin to describe my reverence to the Universe for lending me Filippa.

And so, it gives me great joy to report that this weekend, after an extraordinary acoustic-guitar singalong after an ordinary date-night, Filippa’s boyfriend of five years got down on one knee and asked her if she’d do him the honor of being his wife.

Filippa & Mark – A very handsome couple!

She was there to remind me where to find the official copy documents when I forgot. And she reminded me which meeting was for which department when I forgot. And she reminded me how radiant women can be when they’re newly minted as a future-newlywed.

She just glows, you know? And she reminded me, like she always does, that weddings are really beautiful, because love is really beautiful. And I woke up this morning, and I realized… I like weddings again.  I like my wedding, and her wedding, and the general happiness and beauty and glow that weddings infuse into the lives of the women who touch them. (You know… for the most part.)

Her happiness helped me make my full recovery, and now I’m here, come full circle… And oh, it’s so nice to be standing in the sun once more.

So please join me in welcoming Filippa to the leagues of brave women who have gone before her, through the decorated, embossed, lace-lined land of Engagementdom. We here in Wedding World have another worthy woman among us, a woman who deserves every happiness wedded bliss has to offer, because help and happiness is what she gives back as a point of daily order.

She made me feel so much less alone when I started by new job, if there is nothing else I could offer her as she embarks on what will surely be one of the most magical, most trying journeys of her life, it’s this simple assurance: We’re all in this together.

-MMV.