It was a quiet afternoon. I was getting in my car to drive to work when I received a call. There was a frantic voice on the other end saying, "Juan, my minister is ill. He won't be able to marry us tomorrow and I still have not gotten flowers!" I could feel the desperation in her voice; after all, the idea is to get married once and do it the right way. I embraced the power of 'Juan in a Million' and offered to do her bouquet as a last resort. 'How brave and stupid of me' I thought to myself, as if I was not already running a restaurant, working for a photography company in a hotel, shooting a wedding and now, of course, I had to add the cherry on top with doing the flowers. After we hung up the phone, I looked at myself in the mirror and laughed. I had helped a dear friend put together a bouquet for a styled shoot once and I was already considering myself an expert. So Taurus of me. But I had heard relief in Vera's voice when I offered to help with the flowers and that made me feel better in some sort of chaotic way even though I knew my world was about to get crazy. Night fell upon the hour and the stars came out to greet the roaming souls of this remote island in the Pacific. I laid down thinking of ideas of how to build the bouquet and fell into a slumber of dreams. Then the new sun came out and all hopes of a successful day with it. At midday, I received a call. There was a manly voice with a very familiar accent saying my name in a joyful tone and expressing that they had found a minister. This was John, Vera's husband-to-be. The first words that came out of my mouth were, "You are Colombian, right?" Surprised by my quick discovery, he asked me, "How did you know?" I am Colombian as well, and I can spot the accent a mile away. From that moment on, I was geared up to do anything and everything to help them have the most amazing day of their lives. I guess you can call it Colombian pride.I headed into town to look for fillers for the bouquet. What an odyssey to find something decent on such short notice, but I was not giving up. I had finally found a place when I received a call from Vera. She still had a frantic tone but was a bit more relaxed saying that they had found flowers. I was both relieved and sad because I had wanted to debut my florist talents. As I was driving to the south side, I looked into the sky and saw what I could only describe as the end of all days... A massive dark and malevolent cloud was covering the whole south hemisphere of the island. The heavens were crying. What does this mean? Why would this happen exactly on the day of their wedding? I asked myself all of these questions as I kept driving deeper and deeper into the darkness. I sat quietly inside my car watching the torrential rain fall. I bundled my thoughts and kept them under an umbrella dry and cozy. The final hour was only minutes away. Everything had been chaotic and rushed, and yet as I stepped outside my vehicle and looked into the horizon where the sky melts with the ocean, I saw an array of yellows, oranges, and reds. The clouds were vanishing like sea foam, like melting snow at the peak of spring. My soul smiled and I reminded myself that magic does exist. I immediately knew John and Vera's sacred union had been blessed by a higher power. I call this "benevolent chaos". Magic happens in a rush when our hearts are open.
