A "Scarf Blessing for a Bride-to-Be" was given to one of my daughters.

In June of 2004, my daughter came to Orcas Island with her bridesmaids for a weekend Bachelorette Party. They planned to go camping at Moran State Park and have a spa day at the nearby Rosario Resort.

I was asked to host a lunch at our house for them when they first arrived. It was to be a "girls only" gathering and included her future mother-in-law and my mother, who both had traveled from Oregon for the party.

I wanted to do something special for her in the Center Room, but wasn't sure what would be appropriate for a Bachelorette Party and young women her age. I fortuitously found an idea that seemed perfect—an ancient Scarf Blessing Ritual!

I needed to ask everyone to secretly bring a scarf with them that had a special meaning. I told them we would go to the Center Room where each person would then take turns telling the story of the scarf. They would then give a blessing to my daughter and drape her with the scarf in whatever fashion they liked.

I was able to contact all of the bridesmaids before they came, so the plan was set in place. When everyone had arrived we feasted on a spread of wonderful foods, including a chocolate cheesecake with fresh strawberries from the garden. While sharing this meal out on our deck, each bridesmaid shared their story of how they met my daughter. It was very moving and I was impressed with how important she had been in their lives. Then we went inside and I showed slides of her as a child, which shifted the mood into one of riotous laughter.

We ended this lovely time together with a trip down to the garden where we all gathered in the Center Room. As planned, each person shared their scarf and their blessing. It was beautiful to see the warmth and generosity of spirit shown by each of them as they honored her in this way. Their loving kindness took all of us into a truly sacred space in which our hearts could open to that deeper dimension of life where we care for each other.

There were several magical moments. One of the bridesmaids secretly brought a scarf for her mother, the future mother-in-law, to share. When she saw it, she immediately recognized it as the scarf of her grandmother. It even had the smell of the powder that she used to wear. There was no doubt in her mind and all of ours that "Grandma Mini" was present at this gathering, too.

Tears seemed to be shed with each scarf. My daughter was familiar with some of the scarves and why they were so meaningful to her friends. Several came from different parts of the world. I felt drawn to drape her in a Polynesian sarong with dragonflies on it.

The last scarf was presented by my mother, the elder of our group, being 88 years old. She had written a poem with a rainbow theme (not knowing that my daughter had planned a rainbow theme for her wedding) as her blessing. She asked me to read it for her, because my mother has macular degeneration and is blind.

As I was reading it, I became so choked up with emotion that I couldn't get any words to come out. I couldn't even answer my mother when she quietly asked if I were having a problem reading her writing! I recovered though, and my mother draped her with a white shawl to symbolize all of the colors of the rainbow. My daughter then spontaneously danced around Makua, the stone in the center of the room, expressing her joy and delight. We were all blessed to see her with so much happiness in her heart.