Since returning from my dive trip there has been a constant hum of activity that led to the arrival of my daughter and her fiancé and a week of celebrating Thanksgiving, shopping for a bridal gown, an Iron Bowl gathering, and their engagement party held at the river pavilion in my home community along the Magnolia River. With all the busy-ness I have had little time to write–that beloved exercise that keeps me happy and fit as much as paddling my SUP board, cycling or walking through live oaks and cypress trees.

While much of our time together was noteworthy, there was one day that stands out…profoundly. I was completely surprised at the emotions and tenderness that surfaced from within as we walked into Bliss Bridal store in Fairhope, Alabama. It was as if a curtain was opened and I glimpsed not only my daughter’s beauty but the beauty of every woman preparing herself for marriage.

And while she’d probably roll her eyes at my Jungian meanderings, the experience also reminded me of the marriage of the Higher Self to the lower or human self–the conscious joining of spiritual self to earthly self.

Standing in that wonderful store, it was as if a gateway opened and I saw my daughter’s spiritual self surrounded by white gowns symbolizing the purity of soul that each of us has. I understood on a deeper level the importance of acknowledging, through ceremony and celebration, the wedding of partners, of lovers. And the acknowledgement and celebration of the path that leads to higher spiritual awareness.

I took a photograph of Emily surrounded by gowns, as if gazing past their form into the depths of the Universe. I saw and understood, like never before, the inner marriage each of us can choose to make by committing to the spiritual self and reaching for a higher expression of humanness. She will argue she was just looking at wedding dresses. But I saw more.

I may be mother of the bride, but mostly I’m still learning from my daughter.