In 1953 a tall handsome young preacher met a beautiful curvy redhead and fell in love. He chased her until she caught him. They married in 1955. They exchanged beautiful gold and silver filigree wedding bands as a symbol of their love and commitment. They had four daughters and lived a life of love that rivaled some of the greatest love stories ever written. They were faithfully, happily married for 52 years when the still handsome preacher and still lovely redhead stood hand in hand, side by side as they both battled cancer and all of its ravages. They lost hair, lost weight, lost time, but never lost hope. After two years, the handsome preacher lost his battle with cancer, and he died. The beautiful redhead battled on without him, but never quit missing him. She remains a strong and inspiring cancer survivor.

Their daughters and sons in laws, seven grands and now five great grands never quit missing their husband, daddy or grandad. He was quite a man! The second grandson of the young preacher I proudly call son.

Last month I joyfully and tearfully watched him marry! Like many young couples they walked a few roads to get to that point. Health, deployment to Iraq, job changes and other hurdles made it challenging to work out all the details, but they stuck it out and stuck together until the “I DO” happened and it was enchanting.
When we began planning the wedding my son nervously asked his beloved grandmother whom he calls Nani if she would consider allowing him to wear his Grandad’s wedding ring. She agreed with concern that it might not fit and could not be sized because of the filigree and etching. He timidly removed it from the box where Nani said it had been for 10 long years of missing Grandad and slipped it on his finger. It fit like it was made for him! She challenged him to wear it as a reminder of the man his grandad would want him to become.

So, 62 years later, in the same week as his grandparents wedding anniversary, my beloved son slipped that ring on and kissed his beloved as the beach sunset blazed over the water of Matagorda Bay! It was if he had his grandad’s blessing in that moment. I can only hope and pray they have one half of the happiness, joy and adventure my precious parents had in their lives together. They come from a long line of love, so I think their chances are really good! Congratulations Matt and Ashley!