Can You See The Lark Ascending? ~ Four Years Ago Today

Four years ago today, I married the true love of my life, at Dunsley Hall, in Whitby, a place we have loved all our lives, the place we now live happily.

In the days after our wedding, I wrote down everything. Everything I could recall in every last detail – a document for me to keep and reflect back on one of the happiest days of my life.

I thought I’d share a little of those words I wrote down with you today.  These words relate to the time we were sat down for our the reception after the ceremony. I read them back to myself now and my eyes well up with happy tears!

Images by Karen McGowran

We had just sat down at our table and could hear the reception music that Philip had prepared on CD in the background…

‘Philip drew close towards me and told something that had happened earlier that day;  ‘I was on my way up to Dunsley Hall with the flowers’ he said, ‘and had just turned off the moors road, when this beautiful lark fluttered down near the bonnet, then swooped and ascended high into the sky above, he followed me all the way to Dunsley Hall. I thought of you and started crying – I couldn’t stop crying after that…’

‘I knew instantly the significance of what Philip was telling me; ‘The Lark Ascending‘ is a classical piece of music, written by the British Composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams; it was one of my favourite pieces of music ever, that still moves me to tears and gives me goosebumps every time I listen to it.’

‘I recall us both sitting in the car one sunny day, having had a picnic in the quaint village of Lealholm, and being parked up near to The Board Inn, overlooking the river Esk in the valley, when this exquisite piece of music had come on the radio, and I’d made Philip sit and listen to every powerful second of it it.’

‘I shed a tear at the moment the solo violin soars up high, reaching octanes that only the most talented of string musicians could possibly achieve. It truly is a moment of musical brilliance, evoking a lark swooping majestically high in the skies, soaring towards the clouds and dancing in heavenly ascent high above its beloved and beautiful landscape.’

‘Philip knows how much this piece of music means to me, and so when he heard Kate Bush singing the words above, from the CD of all our favourite images that he’d prepared to have played during our reception, his eyes had started to well up, as he recounted his early morning experience to me. Her lyrics continued…’

We’re gonna be laughing about this We’re gonna be dancing around
It’s gonna be so good now
It’s gonna be so good
Oh so exciting, mmh go on and on, every time you leave us
So Summer will be gone
So you’ll never grow old to us
It’s gonna be so good now
It’s gonna be so good
Can you see the lark ascending? Prologue, by Kate Bush

‘I pinched my wrist gently…’

‘This is real.’

‘This IS real.’

‘I made a point of mentally recording this precious moment between Philip and I within the safest vaults of my memory; ‘what a lovely afternoon’.  And so it was.  Nothing could have been more true.’

‘Oh so romantic, swept me off my feet Like some kind of magic
Like the light in Italy
Lost its way across the sea
What a lovely afternoon, oh, what a lovely afternoon.  Prologue, by Kate Bush

When I think of my wedding day, I think of so many things that make me smile. I think of being surrounded by loving family and friends, of joy and hugs and laughter and feeling my heart was so full to the brim with happy it could have burst.  But most of all I remember these private little moments between Philip that bring so much to the meaning of what the day was all about.

Please remember to make times for those precious, private moments on your own wedding day. You will look back and treasure those memories more than anything.

Happy anniversary to the one who gives my life purpose and who I love more than words could ever explain.

Annabel

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EDIT, 13th February 2020: My father passed ago two weeks today, on 30th January 2020 and I wanted to honour him in this article. I was with him when I first heard The Lark Ascending – it was playing on the radio in the car one beautiful, balmy sunny summer evening as we were making our way to watch an outdoor performance of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ together at Stafford Castle – a rare, if not the only occasion I ever had out on my own with my dad. The sounds of this song on the radio stopped me in my tracks and gave me goosebumps. I asked dad what it was – he knew immediately of course, it was a favourite of his too, and I will forever think of him whenever I hear it now. Thank you dad – thank you for all the wonderful classical musical influence you filled me with as a child – I will forever be indebted to you. All my love forever xxxxxx