“Alessandro”

As I walked to the altar arm in arm with Mari, I realized that Catarina had thought of every detail of the ceremony. There were wooden and iron garden benches for the guests and huge vases of colorful tulips adorning the entrance hall. There was a wooden table at the altar and behind it, a portico decorated with white fabric and tulips. When I got to the altar, I looked at the first empty bench in front of me and saw the photos of my father and mother in silver-framed portraits, with a white tulip in front of each photo. Catarina thought of a way for me to know that they were there with me at that important moment and to represent them so that everyone would know it. Mari sat next to the photos and I was immediately moved.

When our friends, now godparents, began to enter, I was impressed by the girls' dresses. Each dress was the color of a tulip: purple, red, yellow, orange, and pink, in vibrant tones. They were beautiful and harmonious. There were ten chairs, five on eac