Pick o' the Day: For My Daughter and Her Husband on Their Wedding Day

            We have now come to the part of the ceremony where the honor has been bestowed upon me to, perhaps, say a few words of wisdom for the benefit of this young couple.  A few days ago, when I began thinking about what I would say, I started making a list of all the nuggets of wisdom that I have gleaned over more than a half-century of living life, and, well, it turns out not to be a very long list, so this won’t take very long.  But I will do my best to speak from the heart, and to speak on behalf of the other parents of this couple as well.
  

Natalie and Christopher, as your parents, there are things that we might have wished for you, though we really did not have the right to do so.  For example, we might have wished that both of you could have stayed as the beautiful little babies you once were when you first entered this world.  You know we never got tired of holding you in our arms, and kissing you, and cuddling you.  And that’s something we still miss.  But we can’t wish that for you.

            And we couldn’t wish that you never learned to walk, even though the very first steps you took were away from us.  We couldn’t wish that you wouldn’t have to go off to school one day, even though we prepared you for it as best we could.  We couldn’t wish that you could have avoided adolescence, perhaps the most difficult time in a person’s life.  I don’t think I have to describe the angst and agony one suffers during that time of life, for we’ve all had to go through it.  But as a long-time middle school teacher, I’m still stuck there and I can’t escape it!

            We couldn’t wish for you that when you turned 16 you would not want to learn to drive, though that is one of the scariest things a parent has to experience.  Nor could we wish you would not go on that first date that we parents dread, because it might lead to something like this!  And we could never wish that you would not graduate from high school, even though the day you did was a sign that our remaining days together would be few.  And we could not wish that you might not want to move someplace far away (although in the case of Teresa and myself, we will probably follow you).

            And you know that as much as we would like to, we cannot wish for you that you will have no troubles in life, no struggles, no heartaches, no sickness, for we know these things will come on their own accord, and they come for everybody.

            But what we can wish for you, and what we have wished for you from the start, is that you find the great love of your life.  That you find the person who will love you, and whom you will love, more than anything else in this world.  That you find that this great love of your life is also your best friend, the one who cheers you on to become all you can and want to be in life, the one who wipes your tears and helps you pick up the pieces when things go wrong, the one who makes you feel like you’re just the greatest thing on God’s green earth to him or her.

            Some people find this great love of their life right next door.  And some of us have had to go on long and crazy journeys to find each other.  I found the great love of my life, not in Tucson, Arizona where she was born and raised, but in the jungles of Nicaragua, of all places, if you can believe that.  And you, Natalie and Christopher, though one was born in Tucson and the other in San Angelo, Texas, you have found each other here in Austin.  And the love we see in your eyes when you look at each other, and the fact that you are here making these vows to one another, lets us parents know that our greatest wish for you has come true today.

            And there is one more thing I want to say before we proceed with the ceremony.  I heard this a long time ago, and I don’t remember where or when or who said it.  But this person compared a great love that a married couple has for each other to a campfire.  At the beginning, once the match is struck, it blazes forth and burns like crazy!  But over time, it calms down a bit, and becomes warm, glowing, comforting, and comfortable embers.  But these embers never have to go out, though they might need some stoking now and then (remember how important it is to have a date night on a regular basis!)  But no monsoon, no blizzard, not even a Texas hurricane could ever blow this fire out, for when the winds blow on these embers, they just burn all the stronger!