A proud mom

My oldest son got married to his best friend on Saturday, May 4.  It was a wonderful wedding.  I admit that I was nervous as I didn't really know much about what the weekend had in-store.  But it was wonderful.  It rates up there with my own wedding and the birth of my three children.  I am so proud of the man my son has become.

I was admittedly very weepy most of the weekend.  Even sitting here, my eyes are moist.  It is not a sadness, but a feeling of accomplishment and pride, as well as the rush of memories from a lifetime of happy times.  The mother of the bride put together a DVD of pictures from both the bride and groom lives.  I couldn't watch it without crying.  There are so many parallels in their lives pointing to the fact that these two belonged together.  The pastor even pointed out they scored the highest he had ever witnessed on their pre-marital screening.  They have spent 3 plus years truly getting to know each other.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to get to know them during the 6 months before they graduated from college and for the football weekends they stay with us.

There are so many memories from the day I want to hold on to...

*how beautiful my children looked

*how symbolic was the blowing out of the family's candle after the unity candle was lit.

*how my son held me during "our" dance

*how my son played with the new ring he wore on his finger

*how my son held me during my viewing of the DVD

* how I danced with my younger son

* how my son and daughter embraced the members of the bridal party and danced and danced.

*how special it was that my parents were the longest married persons in the room

*how much fun I had driving the bridal party around to various photo ops

*how my husband stood by me all day. Kissing me, holding my hand and smiling at me.

and finally,

*how sad I was to take the hair pins out of my hair before I crawled into bed 19 hours after I got up.

I'm so proud... as my son said,  "one down, two to go.... "  I don't know how my husband and I are so lucky.  We have great children!!!!

J.A.M.