I Do

....continued

It's absolutely amazing how three simple letters can change someone's life in such a positive and rapturous way.  Y...E...S.....

I was now engaged to my best friend, and the absolute love of my life.  Every morning and evening I was strolling along Cloud 9.  What a feeling.  I almost felt guilty about my good fortune.  Did I really deserve Lori?  I mean let's face it......it sports terms.....I really out kicked the coverage.  I was in the happiest place I had ever been in my life.

Lori handled most of the wedding plans, and everybody was better off for that.  I was there for support, and the occasional "yeah, that looks or sounds perfect".  In what seemed like an instant, it was already March of 1998 and our wedding was just around the corner.  "Please God, please let this happen" was all I could think about, and before I knew it, it was already the 14th of the month. 

We planned an outdoor wedding at the Dallas Arboretum.  It was such a beautiful place.  The flowers were in bloom, the grass was green and immaculate, and everything looked amazing.  Everything was perfect........so perfect in fact, Mother Nature decided to shed some tears.  Yep, rain.  As I look back on it now, maybe that was some kind of omen.  A little foreshadowing maybe....Who knows.  At the time, we just gathered all the chairs, and moved the ceremony to an inside area.

As the final minutes ticked away, I was overcome with emotion.  As a beautiful rendition of Mozart's String Quartet #4 in C major was playing in the background I watched all of our friends and family, all of the people I loved most in this world, file into the room.   It was, at that time, the best feeling I had ever experienced. How could things get any better?

You would have thought that I would have been really nervous, but strangely, I was not.  I knew that this was the best decision that I would ever make in my life, and a warm calmness filled my soul.  It was now getting close.

Just as the last guest was seated, Wagner's Treulich Geführt (Here comes the bride) began to play.  Now, I've been fortunate to travel to many different places in my life.  I have seen some absolutely wondrous and beautiful places and things.  To this day, I kid you not, seeing Lori walking down the isle in her wedding dress, with her long curly brown hair rolling off her shoulders, is the most breathtaking thing I have ever seen.  I was mesmerized as Steve walked her up and gave me her hand.

As we stood up front, I had only one regret.  I wished my dad was still alive to see the man that I had become, and to witness for himself the journey I was about to take.  He would have been proud.

I turned to face Lori and melted into the moment.  All of my fears, insecurities, and tribulations gone in two simple words............

I DO

William