Sunday, December 9, 2012

I Gave Away My Daughter

What a beautiful wedding.  The Lilac Inn in Brandon Vermont is a perfect place for weddings.

We posed for family photos at 3 PM, and then the wedding was at 4.  I know, you all want to know if I cried.  I'm not telling.

The bride was beautiful, of course, and her dad was very proud.  Becky has always been the kind of person who knows what she wants and doesn't settle for anything less.  For Rick to meet those incredibly high standards is surprising to me.  He must be quite a guy.

I have to say that I was also very sad.  My mom and dad weren't there, nor was my Uncle Wayne... nor my grandparents...  I miss my family.  I looked around the room of happy people... my cousins...  where are my parents? My grandparents?  I need them to be here to share this.  This is when I choked up the most.  I hate that lump in the throat feeling, yet I love it because it means that they meant so much to me.

Today we drive back to Bleecker (half way on the road from Bleeck to Bleeckest).  Maybe I'll post a few pics if I have time.  Well... now that I think of it... I don't have internet access on the mountain, so if you don't hear from me for a few days, that's why.

We'll be back in Brunswick on Wednesday and back to our Georgia life and our chosen live aboard lifestyle.  I have to say, though, that we truly miss the mountains of upstate New York and New England.  We're looking forward to returning in the summer and beginning the building of our new home.  That will be a different blog though, not to be confused with our Drift Away blog.  If you think me fixing up an old trawler was a lot of laughs, just wait until I try to build an off-grid house in the woods!

I can't believe my little girl is married.  If I went to a fortune teller ten years ago, and she told me that I'd be living on a boat with Pamela and two pit bulls and a German Shorthair pointer in Georgia, and that my daughter would be getting married in Brandon Vermont, and that I'd buy ten acres of land in Bleecker NY to build a house... I would have said that was preposterous.  Completely laughable and unbelievable.

Proof that life is stranger than fiction.

1 comment:

  1. I get it, Dave. I once had a participant at a seminar ask what achievement I was most proud of... without a second thought, I said, "Our daughter. We made and raised a good person. She worked with us in our business, but later decided to be a teacher. She is doing more than just teaching math, she is making these students better people. I couldn't be more proud."

    "Giving her away" at the wedding was strictly symbolism. She was her own person as an infant; grew and blossomed. I look at her and marvel at the blend she is of the two of us. No matter the miles, we are close. We love the man she married... I jokingly call him "the son I never wanted." ;-) He is a good man. They take good care of each other (she learned that from us).

    What they say about "not losing a daughter, but gaining a son," turned out to be true for us. Congrats on that special day, Dad - you did your Daddy duty... but, she will forever be your little girl. You can't give that away.

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