Growing up in my time meant hearing or reading colorful books of wonderful tales like “The Littlest Angel” and “Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates.”  VCR’s or DVD’s of Walt Disney Classics had yet to be. It was up to the writer and the reader to provide children with the special effects, costume design, sound and musical score. But, we somehow managed to bring those classic stories to life.  Often the stories would continue to unfold even after the book had been closed and the light turned off. Like the black and white pages of a color book, the Cinderella gown became pale blue and the Princes’s coat royal blue as the ocean as they danced across the ballroom floor with the clock ticking toward midnight. All left to the imagination of a child.

When I saw my little girl, now a grown woman, emerge from the dressing room in her very first selection of a wedding gown, it took my breath away.  It really would not matter which of the gowns she chose.  Each one more beautiful than the last.  It was like going back to that story book.  It was like the dream I had never been fortunate enough to live.

It took two shopping trips to find the dress.  And when she decided, we, the Mother of the Groom, the Bridesmaids and I, agreed the dress was perfect. It was the gown that made her face light up.  The dress that transformed her from that young woman to a Bride. She had found her beautiful gown. This dress would lift her Father to a level of pride he would find difficult to contain. The dress that would bring a tear to her Grooms eye when he finally saw it.The biggest piece to a picture she had held in her mind of the day she would marry the man who would give her her happy ending.

One thing I have learned … if you wait long enough….fairy tales do come true. Thank you my handsome Prince for being able to make dreams come true for both Lindsay and me.

P.S. After the wedding I will post the picture of Lindsay in her wedding gown at the Bridal Salon when she first decided it was the one.

The post Fairy tales do come true… first appeared on Zjudes blog.

The wedding DJ announced, “All married couples report to the dance floor.”  Around thirty couples proceeded, of the one hundred-twenty people attending the wedding of my grand-niece and her fiance as the speakers echoed “The Way you Look Tonight”. About a minute into the song the DJ asked those married less than five years to leave the floor. Several couples returned to their tables while some stood close by to watch those remaining twirl around the room. After another minute he asked couples married less than ten years to leave the floor.  He repeated his command until he reached twenty-five years, leaving only  a scattering of couples behind. At thirty years both parents of the bride and groom departed the dance floor. All that remained were two sweet lovebirds, leaning gracefully on one another. He guided her to the melody, slowly swaying across the floor like a prince with his Cinderella. This endearing couple were dreaming of  their own wedding fifty-three years before. All because two people fell in love, the ceremony had taken place that evening.  You see, they were the proud grandparents of the beautiful young woman in the angelic bridal gown.

The post All because two people fell in love… first appeared on Zjudes blog.