One small decision can change your life. Or a big one. All I know is that not going to Prague as I had planned after the celebration of the five years of the Third Chamber in April 2008 in order to know Berend Brock much more, made me say yes to change my plans without hesitation. Made me be brave enough to spend an extra weekend with him in Netherlands and Belgium. And now wonderfully almost a year after, saying yes to a life together.
Is the first Third Chamber wedding (www.thethirdchamber.org) Two people from different cultures: Berend, being Dutch as much as he can be...and me...being Latin and Colombian as much as I can be. Both incredibly independent but stubborn. Both incredibly world citizens but very proud of our countries. Now a new culture is beginning. A Colombian-Dutch-World Culture. We both are willing to bring to our marriage the best of our cultures, and import those things that we have discovered in our travels and we think are amazing. We even are willing to bring those things that are not so easy for each other to turn them into what we are going to call home.
Proudly we can affirm that the celebration of Saying Yes went quite well. We invited everyone by Internet to save trees. A barbecue in my family’s farm in a beautiful region of Colombia called Ubate (or the capital of milk) was the welcoming for the 95 guests. We had people from everywhere. Dutch family, Dutch friends, Aleyda from The Third Chamber, French Friends, Italian friends, family and friends from work, YMCA, and friends that are there after years and years. We broke protocol. I received the guests in a nice suit...and Berend came later with me opening the door for him. At 14:00 hours I escaped to get ready in my white dress and Berend had a last minute decoration issues. We head to the chapel of the farm. We got married in the Catholic ritual. Tears in my eyes and tears in Berend’s eyes. Even tears in everyone’s eyes. Our vows are full of love, promises and gratitude for each other’s love and we say them in three languages and Berend’s father who passed away two weeks ago was in our hearts and in our words.
Tears again when a letter from my brother who lives in Australia and couldn’t come is read surprisingly by one of my cousins. We leave the chapel and instead of flowers...everyone throws bubbles and the party begins. We dance "Brabant" and " Que bonita es la vida". We eat Colombian desserts instead of the formal cake and we danced until very late combining karaoke in Dutch, English and Spanish. The Dutch and Colombian flag are part of the dance...and then we go to our wedding night in a beautiful colonial hotel.
Saying yes feels just amazing. I am saying yes to a new life. I am saying yes to a life of commitment with the man I love. Saying yes is assuming God’s will to marry in his name. Saying yes even implies saying no to being alone, to take decisions only for myself. Saying yes includes stepping into a new world called South Africa. But most of all Saying yes is accepting love completely in my life.
I can only say I recommend it. Marrying...saying yes...it is worth it. As the priest said to us...in a world where love is cynical…stories like Berend`s and I is a prove that love does exist. He was able to cross the ocean for me...and I am willing to follow him wherever he goes. Is love and for that reason is worth it.
