Chiming of the Hour

Well, the rehearsal is over and so is the rehearsal dinner.  We sure do put a lot of work and effort into something that is over in such a short time. We have shopped, packed and repacked for weeks getting just the right items for the rehearsal dinner. Thanks to many trips Home Goods and World Market the dinner looked perfect. We (I) wanted everything to be just right for Brad and Kayla. I planned and planned and talked things over with the experts.  You know, those mothers who've done this before. I made lists, scratched things off the list and made new lists over the past few days, weeks and months. Preparations for a day that would be remembered as one of the most important days in the life of my son.  My first born.The baby and toddler who wouldn't stay in the nursery at church because he wanted to be with me. The little boy who loved to curl up in my lap to hear me read "Dumbo the Flying Elephant" over and over again.  The little league pitcher that needed me to come out and play catch while he practiced pitching.  The freshman basketball player at R.J. Reynolds High School who wasn't sure he wanted me to speak to him when I came in the gym because he wasn't sure what the other guys would say. The high school senior and college basketball player who looked in the stands to make sure that I was watching and always wanted to know where I was sitting.  The high school basketball coach who needed me there because he needed to know that someone behind him had his back.

Well today that little boy is a man.  He is now all grown up and things will be different in our family.  A good different.  A different that mother's look forward to for their sons.   One of the sweetest and most precious East Tennessee girls I've ever met  will be joining her life with my son and starting a life together and we couldn't be happier for them. The church is decorated,  the caterers have been contracted  and everything is in order. And at approximately 5:00 this afternoon, a bell will chime and that handsome son of mine will enter a beautifully decorated church and turn and watch his beautiful bride come down the aisle with her father. He will probably tear up because his heart is as big as Texas and I will steal glances at her but I will watch him. Why, because a mother of a son encouraged me to. She said every eye in the church would  be on the bride but that I needed to watch Bradley and see his face as as he sees his bride the first time in all of her finery. She said no camera could catch that look or emotion.  Wow!  I don't know that I would have even thought of that. I'm so glad she mentioned it.

So, I'm off to do my makeup and dress for this occasion. The next time we talk I will be a mother-in-law.  I only hope that I will be as good as the examples set before me.  Thanks Mom and Linda!

If you think about it, pray for Bradley and Kayla as they start their life together.

Until next time.

Felicia

Proverbs 29:11  "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.