One week ago today, I experienced a first. For the first time in my life, I attended a wedding and had a front row reserved seat.
In a garden surrounded by family and friends, my first-born baby girl married the man of her dreams, as my husband and I looked on from reserved seats.
It was a day that was always sometime in the future until it suddenly showed up on the calendar, circled in red.
How did we get here so quickly? It seems like only yesterday, I was an expectant mother in a Christmas Eve service, struggling to pay attention. I remember nothing about the service except a baby girl, dressed in Christmas best. She was chatty, beautiful and adored by her parents. She made me wonder what my little one would look like, and who she would be. Nineteen days later, she entered our world and nothing was ever the same.
Neither of us could have imagined how she would capture our hearts and fill our lives with joy. And struggle. But mostly joy.
She taught us how to parent and helped us understand the gift of a parent’s love. She exposed our faults, failures and inconsistencies and made us better. She pointed us to God and sent us to our knees. She wasn’t perfect and neither were we, but our life with her exceeded our expectations.
My heart is filled with memories too fresh to be so old.
Stopping on the way home from the hospital to buy a wipe warmer because she didn’t like them cold. Listening as she prayed asking Jesus to take her to heaven so they could meet. Getting a call from a Kindergarten teacher and realizing I couldn’t let her go. Watching her drive away from the house for the first time.
I have loved every day as her mama. She is wise beyond her years and inspires me to see the world differently. I have watched her allow God to shape her heart and respond to His call on her life. My heart is filled with pride and my eyes with tears.
At some point we blinked and our little girl became a young woman. Our front row seat to the major milestones in her life led us to the front row of yet another. She joined hands and hearts with a man we are proud to add to call son.
I can’t wait to see what the future holds for these two as they unite with the Lord and embark on their life together. I am so grateful that I’ll have a front row seat.
