We sat together at a picnic table in our favorite park. It was a cool December morning, and I buried my hands in my sweatshirt sleeves. Looking serious, Jason turned to me and handed me a small, flat package.
Opening it, I discovered a thin, slightly faded book with a smooth white cardboard cover. ""I had a hard time tracking that book down,"" he said. ""It's one of a very few copies in existence."" I read the title: Parsi Wedding Ceremonies, inscribed in a delicate scroll. ""I want us to be together, always,"" Jason said. ""I want you to marry me.""
That is what he said, but the book had already said it for him. My family and I are Parsi, or Indians of the Zoroastrian faith. Jason's family is Italian-American and Catholic. By finding and giving me that rare book, he was telling me that he understood how much my faith meant to me, and that he wanted it to be part of our wedding.
A year later, Jason and I were married in Bombay, India. We had a civil ceremony combined with traditional Zoroastrian blessings. Jason's family and several of our friends traveled to India to attend, their presence underscoring the trust they had placed in me and my family and, most importantly, the generous compromise Jason had made to marry me in a world totally removed from his own home and familial traditions.
The number of interracial marriages in the United States jumped from 310,000 in 1970 to more than one million in 1990, according to Census Bureau figures. In 1998, more than 1...
Read full article at Bridalguide.com