Wedding Day

The bride walked down an aisle carpeted with autumn leaves. As flickers of sunlight wove through the trees, my beautiful granddaughter was joined in marriage. It was almost as though God had created the weather just for her wedding – the temperature of that late October day was perfect.

Tiphanie & DJ

I was delighted to be in attendance at this event, and felt blessed to be honored as her grandma. Tiphanie was a gift I received as a result of my late son Matt dating (and later marrying) her mother. Through the years she has always been one of the grandkids, even after Matt and Cindy were no longer together.

Besides anticipating this event for its own sake, I had been champing at the bit because I couldn’t wait for the chance to see all the kids. Tiphanie and her family live several hours from me; and Tyler and Valarie, Matt’s two biological children, live much further, as does Jake – another grandchild I got to claim. It had been a little over two years since I had seen most of them; a little longer for Tyler. What with time, distance and tragic events of Matt’s death, I worried that they might not have anything to say to me.

I was greeted by an exuberant Tiph, and warmly welcomed by Cindy and her family. As I went to speak to Alex, who has stepped up to be their dad, my eyes fell on Tyler. The last time I saw him, he was tall, he was grown up, but he was still a “kid”. Now he is a man. A very handsome one too, I must say. Out of the corner of my eye, I had seen one of the bridesmaids standing nearby, and Alex asked me if I had noticed this young lady. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I realized that it was Valarie. Of course I follow her on facebook, but that doesn’t prepare a person to see her little granddaughter actually grown into an absolutely lovely young woman. Another shock came when I saw Jake and discovered that he is now taller than I am.

Valarie

Tyler and Jake

Even though Matt’s absence from the event was a black hole in my heart, I spent a very happy evening getting to know my grandkids again, and also enjoying the company of other family members who were there. Three year old Hannah entertained us when she photobombed other wedding guests – people she didn’t even know. Several of them were in a group posing for a picture and she just walked over and stood beside one of them, folded her little hands and smiled sweetly. The day was also Roger and my sixth wedding anniversary, and I can’t think of a better way we could have celebrated. I am blessed.