Bittersweet

(Picture taken with mouths full of cake) Saturday, my niece, Brandi, and her fiancé, Josh Hanks, tied the knot. It was a really beautiful wedding, and I am very proud of what she and her friends accomplished with a rather limited amount of money.

This was a very bittersweet day for me. I held it together until the time came for family pictures, when it hit me hard how much I wish my mom could’ve been there. She loved her grandchildren with ever fiber of her being, and they her. Through some troubling times for my brother and his kids, she was their rock. And though they were young when she died (I believe Brandi was 6 and Cody was 4), they have never forgotten her.

Some of the most precious moments for me were watching Brandi and my dad dance together, and Brandi and her dad dance. The other was when my dad and I were leaving to go back to the motel. He was in some pretty bad physical pain and needed to go. We’re were almost to the truck when I heard a loud whistle. I turned around, and it was my brother trying to get our attention. And here running down the road toward us in her wedding dress was my niece, wanting to say goodbye to her Poppa.

Brandi and Josh, you are wonderfully beautiful people, inside and out. I give you all my love and know you will have a happy and fulfilling future.