The lovely young bride in the photo below moved in next door to us with her mother back when she was around 11 or 12. Dad had taken off years before so it was just her and mom. Over time, mom and I became close friends and I wound up spending quite a bit of time with Emily - dropping her off at school, helping her with algebra homework, hanging out in the back yard so she could jump on her trampoline (she wasn't allowed to jump alone), taking her out for ice cream, teaching her to drive... You know, stuff. She was a great kid and I enjoyed doing things with her. Since she didn't have a father and I didn't have a daughter, I guess we were both filling a vacancy.
Right before her senior year of high school, mom was transferred and they moved to Missouri. Em basically ran away back to Illinois and stayed with a girlfriend so she could graduate with her class, but this only lasted several weeks before they got on each others' nerves. After a couple of other options fell through, she was very discouraged, out of options and getting ready to move back to MO. I told Emily my wife and I had a spare bedroom and she was more than welcome to stay with us if it was ok with mom. She wound up living there from sometime in November until she graduated in June, then moved back with her mother. Though it was only 7 months and there were some adjustments that have to be made when a fully-grown teenager moves into an otherwise childless home, there was an empty stillness when she left. It even took a couple years to stop referring to the spare bedroom as "Emmy's room."
After bumming around a little, she eventually got inspired and wound up putting herself through college, working full-time and going to school full-time, to receive her degree in Elementary Education. Worked her ass off! It was there that she met the handsome young man to whom I handed her over last Saturday. They moved to Iowa after he graduated and eventually bought a home in the Des Moines area, which they've been steadily renovating. Emily also completed her Master's degree since moving to Iowa.
When they finally got engaged this past summer, she called me to ask a favor. I knew she was going to ask me to shoot the wedding but I'm no wedding photographer. As she was talking, I was trying to think of a diplomatic way to decline, knowing I'd go ahead and do it anyway - the fact that I'm not a wedding photographer be damned - and just do my best, when she said the dreaded words, "Hey, you heard we got engaged, right?" Yes... "Well, I have a really big favor to ask you." Here it comes, I thought....but instead I heard, "you've always been like a father to me and I was wondering if you'd walk me down the aisle and give me away." I was floored... I'm not an emotional sort so I wasn't tearing up or anything but...wow. Of course I said yes. If I'd had a daughter, I'd want it to be her.
The wedding was last Saturday at the Raccoon River Park Nature Center in West Des Moines. It was a breezy, crisp Fall day - perfect for an outdoor November wedding by the lake. The reception was alot of fun, too, and I got to meet some great folks - friends and relatives - from both sides of the family.
The newlyweds are sunning themselves on some Mexican beach right now. I wish them all the best when they return and begin their new, officially-married, life together. I know I'm only "like a father" but I gotta tell ya, I couldn't be more proud of her, or love her more, if she was my own flesh and blood.
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| walking a very nervous but eager bride to the alter |
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