Well, after thirteen hours of driving and almost going crazy we made it back to Houston in one piece! Our travels included two nights in Charleston and a week in Hilton head for Ben’s sisters wedding, Katie. It was a beach wedding and it was nice to be on the other side, watching as another person said goodbye to her old family and hello to a new life. As Katie walked down her beach aisle I couldn’t help but remember my own wedding.
I wasn’t nearly nervous enough, I don’t think I really understood how much my life was going to change until after the vows. I am a bit of a dreamer so reality never hits until I run right into it. I was standing at the top of the stairs, arm and arm with my dad. I could hear my brother singing and watched as my closest friends made it down the aisle (all without tripping I might add). Then the congregation stood and I head my cue. Time to make the biggest decision of my life, time to walk into forever. Right before I started to walk my dad looked at me with tears in his eyes and asked, “we did ok right?”. I looked at him a little puzzled. I knew we had gone over on the budget but I really did think this was the best time to talk about it. “What do you mean?” I asked, praying this wasn’t going to turn into a Dave Ramsey type of talk. “You and me”, he said, “we did alright”. I smiled, my sweet father, “Yes” I replied finally realizing the weight of the change that was about to take place, “we did alright”. He smiled and I understood for the first time why this was so hard for him.
I should say I’ve been a daddy’s girl since I can remember, always bounding down the stairs when my dad came home. When my mom was sick I was her caretaker but when my dad was home he was my hero. It was all ending though and Ben and I were beginning. No more flowers on valentines day or shopping for mom on Christmas eve. He wouldn’t be who I greeted at the door at 5 o clock and his hero suit had gotten tight in his old age. It all was changing and for the first time I realized how grateful I was that “we had done alright”. We are still human, flawed in the most gruesome of ways, but when you have a family that loves you and forgives it doesn’t really matter. When you come to the end of that aisle and give your dad one final kiss on the cheek you remember the relationship. It wasn’t about fancy trips or what I got on Christmas, it wasn’t even about my big white dress or the flowers, it came down to a relationship and I was happy to answer with confidence, Yes dad we did alight.
