I attended a most lavish wedding recently. It took place in Dearborn, Mich., just outside the sprawling Henry Ford gardens adjacent to the Hyatt Regency where we stayed.
The cost was prohibitive for two round-trip fares, a shuttle to the airport, hotel expenses and breakfast each morning. But the couple were like family to me.
Alex and Kara have been together for 18 years, through school and their early adult years. They had faced similar obstacles during their relationship, but nothing so daunting as four years ago when Alex was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma — the same disease that tested Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester.
"Doctors gave me a 60 percent chance to beat it but there was also a 40 percent chance that I wouldn't survive," he told me back then. "I wasn't prepared to die."
Needless to say, it threw a wrench into any wedding plans they had made. Alex found himself in a hospital ward for weeks on end, getting more treatments than he cared.
Instead of mourning his condition, he remained upbeat, sending out daily notices on his blog with a positive tone. He didn't dwell on the pain or any other side effects. He looked forward to the day he would be in remission and able to wed the woman he loved.
The cancer had taken its toll on him, but he was a big man with an even bigger heart, not to mention a smile that would brighten any room.
When he was 12, his dad succumbed to a heart attack while dancing in a Boston hotel.
The youngster was in his room sound asleep at the time and got the news the next morning.
His mom died a few years later, from the same lymphoma that now threatened him.
You wouldn't expect sickness from the bruising college athlete who made the track team as a walk-on at the University of Michigan. He was strong, finishing second in the javelin in the Big 10 Championships.
At 6-2, 230 pounds, Alex is a big man, yet gentle as a young pup.
I relish his philosophy on life. If there is a silver lining in his cloud, Alex will find it.
"A lot of people have been in my corner," he told me during his recovery. "I've been doing my own 'Tuesdays With Morrie' by e-mailing people and giving them updates. It's been overwhelming with all the prayers being offered and the personal relationships."
Like all good stories, theirs has a happy ending — or perhaps a better description is a happy middle.
Alex and Kara's wedding took place on a picture-perfect day with close to 500 guests in attendance. They exchanged vows inside an ethnic church as two priests presided over the ceremony. The wedding party featured 35 attendants. The bride wore a gown that resembled Chelsea Clinton's attire on her wedding day.
The tears that flowed were from happiness, not sorrow.
The newlyweds compared their wedding day to a destination in which two individual journeys converged.
They acknowledged their guests and thanked them for all the kindness and support rendered.
"Our friends have been a source of laughter, a shoulder to cry on, the people with whom we shared this journey ... some for just a short while, others for a lifetime," they wrote in their program.
Alex and Kara waited half their lives to tie the knot. They will be the first to admit it was well worth the anticipation, if for no other reason but to test their resilience and confirm their love for one another.
People face obstacles every day. Some handle it better than others. Alex and Kara handled it better than anyone could imagine.
I wish them a long and healthy life together. They deserve it.
• • •
Photographer and writer Tom Vartabedian is retired from The Haverhill Gazette. He contributes this regular column.
