Weddings...

I attended the wedding of our former babysitter tonight. I love weddings, they are such a wonderful celebration of family, of marriage, of children, of hope, of future.

I noticed that my notion of weddings has recently changed. Whenever I went to a wedding as a girl, I would end up dreaming of my own wedding (which really ended up being a glorified elopement, so not a fairytale...except I did get my prince). And now, despite the fact that my children are very young...I dream of their weddings.

That thought put me in tears through most of the night. The idea of my baby girl walking down the aisle with her daddy. Dancing with my sons at their weddings. My husband commented that I may be rushing things a bit, they are still in diapers, you know.

But I guess what made me winsome was the realization that a wedding, probably more than any other event, signifies the end of parenting. Now my duty is to fill these many days before those wedding bells ring with the task of raising my children to be godly mates for whomever the Lord choses for them. A daunting task, but a wondrous one as well. I've recently begun praying for their mates should they marry.

My children will likely move out before they marry. They will (hopefully) become independent before they say "I do". However, not until marriage does another person supersede the place of a parent. They will leave us and cleave to another. One day my little girl will wrap another man around her finger like she did with her daddy in the delivery room. And I hope to be the queen in my little boys' hearts for years to come, but when "she" comes, I sincerely will happily relinquish my throne.