Response to Emily's "The Marriage of Ruth and Isaac"

Side note: I feel like there's a lot of you in this. I'm not sure, but I'm gathering the sense that you like gardening (or the idea of gardening) since it has appeared in both of your stories. Anyway, I like how much heart goes into your writing.

So, let's start. This story is about a mother coming to terms with her daughter's wedding, which is a little premature in her eyes. She views herself as a rational person and thinks her daughter's immense faith in God to provide is maybe a little bit naive. In the end, though, she realizes that she could potentially ruin her daughter's big day with her own worries, and so tries to put her daughter's happiness above her own doubts.

Awesome things: like I said earlier, there's a lot of heart to your story. The details like the bit about Ruth as a flower girl was adorable, and the conflict in the narrator about the wedding makes your character real and someone we can relate to. Especially on pg. 2, you did a really good job of revealing the inner conflict and having the narrator sort of try to justify herself. But it's obvious that she feels guilty for being so hesitant about this wedding. I also liked the incorporation of the hymn on pg. 4. It created the scene a little bit and incorporated some of the religious tension between the mother and daughter, who appear to be of the same religion but the daughter has stronger faith.

As far as suggestions go, I wish there was a bit more at the end of the main character being there in some way for her daughter. I sense the desire in her heart to give her daughter the perfect wedding day, free of mom's negativity, that she deserves. I just wish we saw that a little more. And I wish we saw the mom get out her checkbook and actually pay for the flowers. I want to see the mom do just one thing without commenting on price or something.  Maybe on pg. 3 all she could see was dollar signs, but when he told her the price she grinned and wrote him a check, careful not to let her daughter see any frown lines on her face. As much as the narrator tells me that she cares about her daughter, I want to see it in action in the present in a very solid way. I think that would make me feel much better about the ending.

Thanks for writing!