Sometimes I feel that my life began 22 years ago, aged 24. I wonder if those married in Birmingham today will feel the same way in years to come.
Today’s event was not just any wedding. This the marriage of the second daughter of the couple who introduced me to my wife back then.
When we first met, she was just a toddler. Their third daughter, born not long after we married, they named after my wife. Now they’re all grown up, embarking on their own journies in life.
In that packed wedding venue, I found myself seated beside an English Muslim who seemed very familiar, but neither of us could work out how.
On my left, a chap who knew my adopted town well, living nearby, likewise linked to the hosts through those unbreakable Southall connections of ours.
Opposite me, a young man from Qatar who was the spitting image of our next door neighbour in Turkey. And next to him, our host’s nephew, all grown up, letting his companions guess his background. Of course, they would never guess, for his mother was an Indian convert.
Years ago, we all came together in the most unassuming circumstances. We had quite humble lives back then. But in time we all went out into the world and spread out. We moved west. Our hosts eventually moved northwards to the midlands.
Still, these bonds remain. Thanks to a spontaneous invitation to lunch on the edge of Southall two decades ago, all these worlds were joined.
And so it will be for this couple and all the experiences they will have in their lives. What reflections will they have 22 years from now?
May God bless their union and grant them the very best of this world and the hereafter. Let their life begin!
Last modified: 22 September 2024
