Poppy and CC's Corner: July 2019

It wasn't her first marriage and it wasn't mine either. I had four adult children and she had a fourteen year old daughter. We both had been down this road and we knew a lot about disappointments and failures. But we were really in love; whole-hearted, fully committed, undeniably attracted and determined to make it a successful adventure in our lives. Without question we were best friends and had total trust in each other. There really is nothing like planning to live the rest of your life with your BFF (Thought I'd throw that in for you millennials). We had both been single for several years and though I had been "keeping an eye out", I'm pretty sure that she wasn't looking.

Actually Cheryl was an answer to my prayers, literally. I had recently prayed through, took myself out of the equation and had totally "left it with God" to point me in the right direction. If you are not a believer, you should try it sometime, as we say "let go and let God". It didn't happen immediately and it didn't happen on my timetable. But when it happened, it happened as surely as Tiny Tim tip-toed through the tulips. We fell in love and everything shouted out to us that this was the real thing. And it still is.

Granny wasn't keen on losing Angela to a stranger that had just stepped into her daughter's life and I don't blame her. I had to earn the right to be deserving of her beautiful daughter and granddaughter. So, we waited for a few months and had an awkward courting period for a couple of forty-somethings. I think that when my daughter Amy sat in Santa's (Harold) lap at the family Christmas gathering and told him that all she wanted was for Daddy and Cheryl to get married, it broke the ice and cleared the way to proceed. I was ready, had been ready, I knew in my heart that she was the answer to my prayers. She needed to see that I would make a suitable father figure for her daughter. I reckon that I must have passed because shortly afterwards she accepted my engagement ring and we set the date for early June.

As a matter of fact it was June the 4th, my oldest son's birthday. We did the planning ourselves (no Fraanck) and many of our collective families advised they would be coming. We also had many friends and work associates who wanted to see us joined in Holy matrimony. Cheryl's brother John and David were ordained ministers so we asked John to preside over the ceremony and David to say a prayer. Our kids can all sing so we asked Angela, Amy and Mendy and David to sing and we picked out some of our favorite pieces of music to play. Cheryl and I wrote our own vows, we got an arch to put in Granny's backyard and we rented some chairs for everyone to sit in and a PA system to play the music. Cheryl baked her famous sour cream pound cake with strawberry layers in between and placed them on a three-tier wedding cake stand. Everybody had a part and they played it well.

This was the second time around for both of us so we had no fear of the proceedings. Even though it rained heavily in the morning; the sun popped out and all was dry by the time the ceremony started. Everything went perfectly as planned; the singing was beautiful, the music over the PA was perfectly timed, everyone was seated properly by Darren and Michael, a string quartet played Pachelbel's canon as I walked Cheryl from the staircase on the back of the deck, John and Dave presided over the ceremony, Cheryl and I recited our vows in view of God and man, and we exchanged rings to seal the deal. We had dinner for all, cut the delicious cake and shared it with our guests, and then we played lots of vintage music from Beethoven to the Ink Spots. Most of us, including Taylor and Kristofer, danced in Granny's backyard. I became the happiest man on earth. After celebrating our twenty-fifth anniversary this year, I still am.