Saturday, September 23rd,
2017, was one of the happiest days of my life. I got to walk my 27-year-old daughter, Brooke, down
the aisle and give her away to a man I have come to truly love and trust. I
never thought any man would be good enough for either one of my daughters, but Zac
treats my daughter Brooke like gold, has tons of friends (which says a lot about
his character), works hard every day, and is humble in all aspects of his life.
It’s obvious they are “best friends” and madly in love. What more could a
father want!
The wedding was at a small
vineyard Arroyo Grande, and was attended by over 100 friends and family members.
The ceremony was short and sweet and absolutely
beautiful. They even gave me the honor of reading from the Bible to get the
ceremony started and somehow I managed not to mess it up, (trust me I practiced
a lot beforehand), and the reception afterwards was every bit as fun and
beautiful as the wedding.
Receptions always include a
toast by the “Best Man” and the “Maid of Honor”. At this wedding, the best man was Zac’s brother, Ben,
and his speech was hilarious and at times extremely heartwarming as well. He
spoke about how close he and Zac were growing up, how much he looked up to Zac,
and how Zac always had his back. Ben’s love for his brother flowed effortlessly
with every word of his toast. The bride’s maid of honor was a sibling as well,
her sister. Nikki’s speech was very different as she spoke about how her and
Brooke were not able to bond as children because of a seven-year age
difference. But she went on to tell how she and her sister have totally bonded now
as adults, living close to each other, spending countless evenings together,
sharing problems and solving problems, as only “besties” can. Nikki fought back
tears as she expressed her love for Brooke and how much they mean to each
other.
Ben’s toast made us laugh, and
Nikki’s toast made us cry, both speeches showering us with love. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house and yes,
I shed a few tears myself. But I also couldn’t stop thinking how wonderful it
must be to have a loving brother or sister that you can always count on. I have
a sister but we haven’t spoken in years and it’s been a source of pain all my
life. But Saturday, the day of my daughter’s wedding, was also the day of my
sister’s birthday. So, I decided to send her a brief note wishing her a happy
birthday. I haven’t heard back from her and probably won’t, but at least I feel
good about reaching out to her. Who knows, maybe if she realizes that I took
time to think about her, even though I was totally immersed in my daughter’s
wedding day, it will spark some small flame inside of her. If not, then I will
simply appreciate all the great people in my life and be accepting of the rest.
And that got me thinking… If you have a loving sister or brother or close
relative of any kind, you are blessed beyond measure. So don’t wait for their
birthday to reach out to them. Tell them today that you love them. Who knows, in
some small way, it just might make today the happiest day of their life!
 |
| Mr. and Mrs. Baysinger - September 23rd, 2017 |
Yesterday brought the beginning, tomorrow brings the end,
and
somewhere in the middle we became the best of friends.
~Anonymous
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