In only a moment: About a boy and his bride

When you walked down the aisle of that church over 35 years ago, you never considered that in only a moment, your son (what son? I'll have a son?) would be standing in the exact same place as his father, watching his bride walk down the very same aisle where you shakily clung to the arm of your daddy.When you carried your son to the baptismal font where you were also baptized, you never considered that in only a moment he would be standing in the very same spot with the love of his life saying "I do."
When you diapered a little pink butt with cloth diapers and carefully slid the huge pin that had a duck head for a catch, kootchy-kootchy-koo'd your way through church, and played the "airplane" game to get him to eat his beets, you never thought that in only a moment you would be on his arm toward the special seat reserved only for the Mother of the Groom. And that indeed, you had become your mother.
Just like your daughter is becoming a stunning version of her mother.When you baked Chex Mix for his birthday party at Humpty Dumpty Preschool, you never considered that in only a moment you'd be baking obscene amounts of the same recipe for his wedding reception - and that many of the same people there would still be enjoying it.

When his tiny toddler body succumbed to sleep in your arms while cruising on the Mississippi on a Sunday afternoon, you never even gave it a thought that in only a moment he would be held in the arms of his wife.When dad had the "heart-to-heart" with his little boys about treating people nice, that in only a moment would the conversation turn to "what women really want" ...and the attentiveness is priceless, albeit typical.
When you ruffled his little friends' hair, swatted them on their butts, and told them "good job," you had no idea that in only a moment they would all be raising their glasses to toast your son as a new groom. Then they would tell you what a great job you did raising him. Thanks, guys :)
As the fights and tantrums ensued with his brother and sister, you never dreamed that in only a moment they would all be gathered together as proud, teary-eyed, but very happy witnesses to their sibling's sacrament of marriage.When you mediated fist fights between brothers, you never dreamed that in only a moment the baby brother would be eloquently and articulately giving a toast to his older brother in front of hundreds of people in a way that only a grown up could do, bringing their mother to tears. And when the bride's mother would ask the Best Man (surprise!) to say the prayer that has become a Steele family tradition, your heart was overcome:

Mother, Father, Sister, Brother
Baby, too, shall pray
Thank you Heavenly Father
For this family wedding day.
Amen.

Because this is what Mom and Dad saw and heard:

When you bandaged bloody knees, elbows, and chins, and dried sand-box tears, you never considered that in only a moment, he would be drying your tears as he left his father and mother to cleave unto his wife.
When you got that horrible phone call that there had been an accident, "would you please report to the emergency room?", and everything was indeed all right, in only a moment, those buddies who were in the car and thankfully safe are standing up for your son at his wedding. And yes, that's the ring-bearer, sound asleep in the Iowa Hawkeyes wagon in the front.When you watched him drive away for the first time in the sweet 1983 Grand Prix, his very first car, you never realized that in only a moment, a big blue "special bus" would pull through the doors of the reception hall and announce "Mr. and Mrs. Steele."Yes, I had him for only a moment, and oh how I wish I could replay every single memory.

"You know how much I love you, Mom? I love you more than cutter tractors love trees!"

I never understood what that meant, other than "a lot." He loved everything with wheels, claws, and scoopers. I loved his little lisp. That's gone now, but I'm betting he loves his beautiful bride every bit as much as he ever loved his mama.He belongs to her now, and all I can do is sit back and beam with pride. If this were an arranged marriage, I would have picked Abby in a heartbeat. We're an awful lot alike, so I must have done something right.
And pray that one day I will hear those precious words: "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Tea today: Republic of Tea Green with pink grapefruit