Flower Girl Dreams
One of my oldest & dearest friends got married this weekend. It was amazing to see her walk down the aisle (for the 1st time!) at age 40. She looked fabulous & it was a beautiful lovefest. Clara Grace, my 8 yr old, was a Flower Girl. She'd desperately wanted to be one, & I thought perhaps she'd missed her moment. But Elizabeth saved us with her generous request for Clara Grace be in her wedding. It truly made my daughter's summer. But she wasn't the only one to be blessed. Weddings are remarkable places to look across the tables & see how life ebbs & flows. I found my heart full of admiration for a few of the women who gathered to celebrate a new chapter in Elizabeth's journey.
Over years & across miles, a select few of us have held fast to our friendships & become sisters. We're Elizabeth's adopted family to compliment her bio one. So it was a blessing to meet the groom's family who, by extension, would kinda be our new family. They're tremendous folks. Looking around after the ceremony I noticed the Moms tending their kiddos. There was the spectrum from tender vigiliance over the infants to the adoring gazes of the mothers of the wedding couple. It struck me afresh how important family is. How critical a loving mother who never quits trying to raise good kids is to the whole scheme of things & how our unique paths to parenting are each amazing. (How terrific the dads were is another blog...)
Some of us began the family journey easily, some with the help of science & some of us opened our arms to receive children from another woman. Variations on the same sweet theme. Each had my respect, from the beautiful mom-to-be who was so good with all the kids & will one day forge her own special path to family to the moms of wee ones for all the long, thankless hours they log in daily. I admired the moms of school-aged kiddos for holding down the fort & seeing the results beginning to bud in those laughing faces spinning around the dancefloor. I venerated the mothers of the wedding couple most, of course. Their children are smart, loving, beautiful people. They can rest on their laurels. What they've achieved I'd kill for, I tell you. As far as I'm concerned, raising strong, decent people is the highest accomplishment (if you choose to parent). Were I given the choice to reorganize the Pentagon or raise kids who grew to have healthy, loving lives where they reached their full potential, the Pentagon would still be mired in red tape. I know who I am & I know what I'm here to do. I'm a mom. The mom of one of the Flower Girls. She'll never forget her experience and neither will I. She probably thinks yet that the wedding is the most beautiful part, but I saw that day that the lives we build beyond the altar shine most brightly. I raise my glass in honor of sisters old & new whose lives have shone a little more light on my path that weekend. God bless you for all you do on ordinary days when no one seems to notice.
Comments
Keep up the great work on your blog. Best wishes WaltDe
Posted by: WaltDe | August 31, 2006 09:30 PM