"I DO"

Written by Angelica and Jenni

On a beautiful morning, Monica was standing in front of a Wedding Chapel, in the city of Las Vegas, walking from one side to the other. She was informed to be there at 8h00 and wait. She took off her pocket watch to see the hour. It was the right time. That watch reminded her of the good friend who gave it to her, and the time they spent together.

The angel was lost in her memories when she saw a tall, blonde, handsome man crossing the street in her direction. Monica's heart was beating so strong, and her eyes were filled with tears. When he saw her, he begun to run, his arms wide open for a huge embrace.

"Monica!"

"Andrew! Oh, I've missed you so much!"

"And I've missed you too, Angel Babies!" A voice emerged behind both angels.

"Tess!" Monica and Andrew exclaimed in unison, their voices filled with happiness.

"Oh, Tess!" Monica left the angel of death's arms to hug her former supervisor.

"Let me see you, Angel Girl! You look so good!" Tess hugged Monica with a great smile and then opened her arms to hug Andrew. "And you, Angel Boy! You are more handsome than the last time I saw you!"

"So, this is the reason we are here today?" Monica's voice was filled with excitement. "To celebrate our reunion?"

Tess' face turned serious. "No, Angel Girl. The Father sent us here today on an assignment."

"We're on an assignment together?" Andrew asked, his expression a mix of surprise and joy.

"Oh, Tess! It is wonderful!", Monica added.

"It will not be that easy, Angel Girl! You both have an important lesson about respect, tolerance, and love to teach. Your assignment is to enter that chapel and say 'I do.'"

Monica and Andrew looked at each other with concerned expressions.

"Sorry, Tess, I can't understand! Are you telling us to get married?" Monica was the first to ask.

"Just do what I told you to do! Now, go ahead! Go! Go!" Tess didn't give them any other explanation, though, and just pushed the angels into the chapel.

While the angels entered the chapel a group of ladies ran quickly in their way.

"Ohh, so you are the bride, uh?" some women asked Monica, who was visibly confused.

"And you are the groom, right?" other women asked, looking to Andrew, who wore a confused look, too.

"Oh, what a nice couple!" all of them said, with a great sigh, and the angels were increasingly confused with the situation.

Quickly, each angel was taken to a private room.

"The groom can not see the bride until the ceremony!" one of the ladies said, with a voice filled with joy.

A couple hours later Monica was dressed in a wonderful, white satin wedding gown featuring lace cap sleeves and with delicate embroidery of flowers along the form-fitting bodice and cascading down the front of a full skirt.

And Andrew, standing on the altar, was incredibly handsome in a tuxedo. The decorations were so heavenly, with doves and cupids everywhere. The pianist began to play a very lovely melody, while Monica walked toward Andrew, and all the ladies sighed at the scene.

When Monica looked into Andrew's wonderful emerald-green eyes, all the confusion was gone. They both knew what they had to do.

"Stop it, please!" Monica yelled.

"What's the problem?" one of the ladies asked.

"We can't do that!" Andrew said with a decided voice.

"Why not?"

"Because we are angels!"

"Awww… so that's the reason you make a very nice couple. It's an angelic couple! It's so lovely!" said one of the ladies.

"And you love each other, don't you?" another lady asked.

"Yes… no! Not this way!" Andrew responded quickly.

"But, well, if you love each other, I don't see any problem in you getting married!"

"I do!" Both angels responded in unison, realizing the real meaning of Tess' words, and how hard their assignment was.

"I can't understand! What's the problem?", said one of the ladies.

"Weddings are wonderful! Romantic love is wonderful! It's the most amazing love there is! How can you not want that??? Angel or not!", said another woman.

"And imagine how gracious and lovely your kids would be! The most perfect babies in the world!"

"But all the babies are lovely and gracious! And all of them are perfect in God's eyes!", protested Monica, visibly upset with the last commentary.

"Don't be so angry! We're just showing you how wonderful your lives will be when you get married!", the woman responded.

"Thank you, but our lives are already wonderful", said Monica, calming down.

"Okay", now it was Andrew's turn to talk, "I'm gonna try to explain that." The angel of death thought for a while before continuing his speech. "Well, imagine someone planting a dog, and pretending it to be a tree, and instead of feeding that dog, they just water and fertilize the soil and wait for photosynthesis, to give flowers and fruits. It would be a great cruelty towards the dog, wouldn't it?"

All the women nodded.

"So, that's how we angels feel when you try to make us behave like humans.", Andrew completed

"You see," Monica calmly began to speak, "we, angels, share a different kind of love. God created different types of love. Like the love shared between parents and their children, the love between brothers, the love among good friends, and romantic love, too. All of them are wonderful, but when you force someone to feel a type of love they don't, this feeling begins to hurt, and destroy their hearts, their spirits! And that's not love at all!", concluded the angel.

All the women were silent, thinking about the angels' words. They've never thought about that, but after these revelations, knowing that all the kinds of love are true, they realized how much they're loved. By their families, friends, and, of course, by God.

The angels left the chapel and found Tess waiting for them in her red Cadillac. "I'm very proud of you, Angel Babies!", she said, with a great smile."So what did you think?"

"Oh, Tess!" Monica was the first to answer, "I'm really feeling so good that I could bring this message! It was wonderful to ensure those people that there are so many types of love and that the love we feel as friends and angels is no less special or meaningful to God than that between couples!", the angel finished.

"So do I", said Andrew, accommodating himself to the back seat, "and I hope those ladies never forget that there are so many types of love out there waiting for them."

"Yeah, and God loves you just as you are and He would never try to make you into someone you're not, angelbabies!", Tess stressed. "So, where you want to go, now?", she finally asked, turning on the car.

"Oh, a coffee would be great!", Monica exclaimed.

"Good idea!", Andrew nodded.

And the car left, running down the street, as Monica threw her bouquet to the skies, and it turned into a beautiful dove.

THE END