Lessons from a Wedding

Please excuse all typos today - I have had very little sleep for the past few days and am trying very hard to function like a normal human being, but am not so sure I am doing a very good job. It was quite a weekend. Instead of the plans I had made to visit friends and have a relaxing Sunday and Monday, I ended up accompanying my friend who was getting married in her last minute arrangements for her wedding. It was really special spending her last night being single with her - trying to calm her down and make sure that she could enjoy her wedding. We ran around all day, pacifying family members and taking care of all the final details, and then finally took a late night swim before heading off to bed. I woke up at the crack of dawn (still half an hour later than my friend woke up) to try to soothe her nerves and jitters on the morning of the big day. She was a beautiful bride and the wedding was incredible, everything managed to come off with much simcha. I think I danced harder (my poor feet will attest to that fact) than I ever have before, and I really felt a part of the simcha, being there from the day before until almost everyone else had left. I am now convinced (even more than before) that there is a lot of reason for eloping, though I have to admit it really was awesome celebrating such a huge milestone with my friend. The other lesson I learned, and this is something that I have been picking up a lot recently, and was actually included in a d'var Torah I heard this past Shabbos, is that we all have our challenges in life, and they are different for each person. I have been very annoyed lately hearing friends complain about how rarely they receive visits from their parents, compared to siblings who have children. This is from people who speak to their parents on daily basis about just about every detail of their lives. It is hard for me to hear this kind of thing since my relationship with my family is so much more distant; I feel like these people have nothing to complain about. But then I look around and realize that while my family situation is my challenge in life, these friends of mine have their own challenges. I have many talents and gifts that Hashem bestows upon me, and some of the things that other people fight with are not a problem for me at all. It is important to keep perspective that while maybe someone else isn't struggling so much with family, they are struggling with something else. And that maybe a specific situation, while not extreme compared to my situation, is enough to really bother that other person, because they expect something different. Hashem gives each of us the challenges He knows we can handle - that has always been a powerful concept for me to keep in mind. He gives each of us the gifts and burdens that we are meant to have. So I am going to work on accepting my burdens with the knowledge that they were given for my growth, and try to learn the most I can from them.