A Wedding and My Bittersweet Emotions
We went to a wedding this past weekend. It was the first wedding we've been to since our daughter was married in March. The bride is an only child. We've known this family for many, many years. Our daughter and the bride used to be the best of friends when they were much younger. Now our older daughter is like a daughter to this couple and she was in the wedding. Strange, I know. The mother of the bride looked elegant. The bride was beautiful. The wedding itself was very pretty. And the fact that another daughter of ours did the flowers and coordinated the wedding is beside the point!
It was a nice ceremony, typical, not strange or unusual. There was a moment of sadness for me, though, when the father of the bride PROUDLY walked his daughter down the aisle. He was smiling from ear to ear. Of course, he was also dealing with a lot of emotions! The face of the bride was beaming! You could tell she was nervous, yet so very happy to be on her father's arm heading down the aisle to the man of her dreams.
Someone had commented during the week that it must be a wonderful feeling to give your daughter away to the man she loves. And it is a wonderful feeling. When it's done right! We have now had this experience twice. The one time was with great joy and happiness. The other time we were basically robbed of the delight, especially my husband in not having the honor of walking his daughter down the aisle to present her to her groom. We were still happy for the couple, but it just wasn't the same joy. To be perfectly honest, it was very painful.
At the reception came another one of those moments that is normally very sweet at weddings. The father-daughter dance. It was beautiful. You could tell the bride was the one comforting her father. Many times she would pat him on the back with a reassuring "It's going to be all right, Dad" sort of pats. He was doing his best to keep it together. As I stood by my husband in the crowd and watched, a tear or two trickled down my cheecks. Partly because this was a beautiful display of love between a father and his child, and partly because my husband missed this moment with his daughter just a few months ago. I can't imagine the emotions my husband was going through as we watched this daughter so tenderly try to comfort her father. I know my husband must have felt that "rejection" pain all over again; I sure did! But the saddest part of all is our daughter will never get to experience that once-in-a-lifetime moment should she ever look back with regret for her choices on her wedding day.
I love weddings and I hope I will not always experience those sad, painful emotions evey time we go to one. Time has a way of healing our hurts, so I pray this hurt will lessen with time. I don't think it will ever completely go away, though. But God is good and He gives comfort. He can restore relationships and that is my most sincere prayer for my daughter.
It was a nice ceremony, typical, not strange or unusual. There was a moment of sadness for me, though, when the father of the bride PROUDLY walked his daughter down the aisle. He was smiling from ear to ear. Of course, he was also dealing with a lot of emotions! The face of the bride was beaming! You could tell she was nervous, yet so very happy to be on her father's arm heading down the aisle to the man of her dreams.
Someone had commented during the week that it must be a wonderful feeling to give your daughter away to the man she loves. And it is a wonderful feeling. When it's done right! We have now had this experience twice. The one time was with great joy and happiness. The other time we were basically robbed of the delight, especially my husband in not having the honor of walking his daughter down the aisle to present her to her groom. We were still happy for the couple, but it just wasn't the same joy. To be perfectly honest, it was very painful.
At the reception came another one of those moments that is normally very sweet at weddings. The father-daughter dance. It was beautiful. You could tell the bride was the one comforting her father. Many times she would pat him on the back with a reassuring "It's going to be all right, Dad" sort of pats. He was doing his best to keep it together. As I stood by my husband in the crowd and watched, a tear or two trickled down my cheecks. Partly because this was a beautiful display of love between a father and his child, and partly because my husband missed this moment with his daughter just a few months ago. I can't imagine the emotions my husband was going through as we watched this daughter so tenderly try to comfort her father. I know my husband must have felt that "rejection" pain all over again; I sure did! But the saddest part of all is our daughter will never get to experience that once-in-a-lifetime moment should she ever look back with regret for her choices on her wedding day.
I love weddings and I hope I will not always experience those sad, painful emotions evey time we go to one. Time has a way of healing our hurts, so I pray this hurt will lessen with time. I don't think it will ever completely go away, though. But God is good and He gives comfort. He can restore relationships and that is my most sincere prayer for my daughter.
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