Thoughts from the Mother of the Groom

That awkward moment when your daughter is trying on wedding dresses and she starts to cry and then you start to cry...and she says, "this is the dress, Daddy." a text from Jon Kemp

When you are the mother of the groom, the emotion & awe are just the same, but different. 

It isn't about dresses – I know that my son Nick's Lady Jane will look beautiful & the dress will be perfect. 

On any given day, Jane is beautiful & she has exquisite taste. I know this, because the Lady Jane has been part of our lives for almost a decade. 

And no young man I have ever heard of has ever taken his mommy to try on a tux & with tears in his eyes, proclaim, This is the tux, Mom. 

When Nick texted me on July 4th of last year to tell me that he had proposed under the fireworks to Jane, I did not weep. 

I did think, excellently well done, Nicholas.  

And I texted back to inquire if she accepted. 

So, when this whole wedding comes down in mid February, I will be sitting next to Nick's father & very recent bride & remembering . . . 

A very handsome three year old Nick, so tall that he does not need a booster seat, seated across the table from me at our favorite nearby neighborhood restaurant, when the neighborhood included the area housing that lovely piece of Italy. 

As I order, Nick wants a glass of wine.   Meaning he wants a wine glass. Which the waiter, who knows us, fills with Sprite. 

As we are eating & talking over the eggplant rollatini, he lifts up his wine glass & says, with all the love & severity of a three year old: 

To you, Mom, to you. 

And we click glasses. 

So, when the Lady Jane walks down that aisle, looking beautiful, I will weep with joy. 

As I watch my son watching her, I will weep with joy. 

And when Jane's father gives Nick her hand, I will remember a little boy & his toast to his mother & a moment when I was the most important female in his life. 

And I will weep with nothing but joy.