"Mama's Song" ~ The Wedding Part Two

David sat down beside me after giving our daughter away.  I grabbed his hand and whispered "we did it".   In the video, you can see him throw his head back and rest it on the chair before quickly sitting back up.

In the days since the Wedding, many have asked us (including our daughter) if we ever even thought about canceling it after the Tornado basically made our home look like a war zone just 14 days before the big date.  My answer? "No!".  David's is a bit slower in coming.  

Before friends and family arrived to help us begin to dig our way out that Sunday morning, he stood in the middle of the fallen pecan tree yelling.  While I can't repeat his exact words here (!), basically they were "where do we start?".  He'd later tell me that he couldn't see how we'd get the place safe for 100 guests in the time we had available.

We've been married 31 years.  We've been together for 33 years.  We have what I wish every couple had and what I've counseled my children to look for in a partner...a relationship where we balance each other.  When I am being pessimistic, David is optimistic and the table turns as needed.  In this case, I was the optimist - relying on faith that we could and would pull this one out.  While David concentrated on the physical aspects of cleaning up and building (and rebuilding) what we could before the wedding (as well as working 12 hour shifts at his job) I dug in and got the contractors we needed and dealt with the insurance claims and the power, water, phone and TV folks.

We didn't pull this Wedding off on our own.  Nikki and J.C. were there in the midst of all the stress and exhaustion and fear that sometimes made even me think we might not make it.  But what I saw in my daughter's relationship through those two weeks, I see in my own relationship with her father.  It reaffirmed what I already thought I knew about J.C. and why I asked for "Mama's Song" to be sung at the Wedding.

Photography by Alvarez Imaging - I would love to be able to play the audio on this slideshow but due to copyright issues, I cannot.  If you'd like to hear the song, press play on the video just below and then begin the slideshow....!  It won't quite line up correctly, but you'll get the idea!