Ramblings....

For the last couple of days, I've been re-reading my older posts. This helped me to look back on what was going on in my life back then and how far we've come.

In my previous post I kind of tried to catch you up on what had been going on, no details just a brief post. I mentioned to you that my son, Justin and his high school sweetheart, Jordan, were married on May 15, 2010 at Denny's Plaza in up-town Spartanburg. Jordan had always wanted an outdoor wedding and her mom, Leigh, aunt Sande, Jordan and I spent an entire Saturday checking out outdoor venues. We went to several beautiful places. With an outdoor wedding, you always need a back-up plan in case of bad weather and most of these places had some very beautiful homes that could be used. We received pamphlets with everything that was included and the prices. They were beautiful, but none of them left us with that "feeling.' As we were leaving one of the places, I happen to ask Leigh why we couldn't have the wedding at Denny's uptown? She had worked with Denny's main office for over 25 years and she had some pull, so if she could get the okay from the decision makers, it would be a perfect place. So she called "Mr Denny" while we were driving down the road and within 5 minutes, we had the venue. This had never been done before and as far as I know, since then.

You know when you're making plans for your child's wedding, there is a lot of excitement and of course a lot of emotions. I wasn't sad, just sentimental, mostly I was happy and excited. Justin and Jordan were high school sweethearts and then Justin broke up with Jordan to date Kim. Of course Jordan dated other people and eventually Justin and Kim became engaged. Jordan and I still kept in touch and she even brought one of her boyfriends to the house to meet me. I remember when Justin and Jordan broke up, Leigh told Jordan.... "If it's meant to be, he'll be back."

If it had been left up to Justin, he and Kim would have married. Fortunately, it wasn't God's will for them to be together and I was thankful. I tried to love Kim and I did, but there was something about her and her family that made me very uncomfortable. Of course Ronnie and Meredith have never kept their feeling to themselves, so they were never happy with Kim. Meredith told me later on, after they broke up, that Kim had told her that Justin wasn't her "real" brother, just her step-brother. We have never made any difference in their status, just like we've never made any difference with Justin and his older brothers, Dale and Travis.

Kim had some very serious problems and I even had to set her straight one time. She was forever getting mad and leaving and Justin wouldn't really know what the problem was. I remember one night, she left and he went out the door behind her. A few minutes later he came in and said that she had tried to run him over. Well as the old saying goes.... "Hell hath no fury," in this case it was "like a pissed off mom. I got my shoes on and we were going to her house, but Justin begged me to let him handle it. I told him if he didn't get it handled, that I would. I was furious and this was when thing began to change.

Anyway, she broke up with him the weekend after Mother's Day and he was devastated. It was heart breaking to watch him go through the pain, but eventually he came through it. For six months things returned to normal and suddenly she called and apologized and wanted to come back. She ended it again, a few weeks later, but Justin handled it very well. I don't think he ever let himself believe she was sincere.

Justin had knee surgery a few weeks later and while he was home recovering, Kim would keep calling him and making him mad. Finally, he gave me the phone and said "Handle it." So I did, I was nice, but I just told her that Justin was going on with his life and she needed to do the same. I told her, don't call back Kim, because I'm answering the phone and you will not talk to him. Take care and I hope you find what you're looking for and that was that. No wonder she had major problems, her family was different, very quiet people. I liked her dad fine and so did Justin, but her mom was very strange and she didn't like Justin and the feeling was mutual. Thankfully, the Lord intervened and Justin was spared being married to a girl who didn't love him, in-laws that were strange and inevitably a divorce.

Thankfully, he and Jordan got back together and life was good again.

I enjoyed helping Jordan plan her wedding and going with her to pick the florist, the bakery and going with the bride's maids to pick out their dresses. Jordan wanted the girl's dresses to be black, but different styles. The one thing Justin wanted was to use Texas Long Horn orange as the main color. The men wore black tuxes and the flowers were gerberer daisies in orange, yellow and red. Jordan said that Justin and I could handle the music, which was right up my alley.

Shirley Lord was the director and every thing went as planned. Justin and I made a CD of processional music and then a separate CD for the ceremony. Our ensemble recorded "My Lord's Prayer for the ending prayer song, the Pastor (DJ), Justin and Andy and all of the attendants walked in on Canon in D and Jordan and Sid walked in on Ava Maria. There was a special sand ceremony, which is something new at weddings, taking the place of the unity candle. The biggest surprise was the recessional.... I bought a Texas Long Horn cd from their Long Horn band and they played all of the songs they play at the games. When Justin and Jordan stepped down the steps, everyone was standing and clapping and Justin and I did the Long Horn sign. It was so much fun.

We went inside the Denny's building for wedding cake and an ice cream bar.

As the bride and groom were leaving, the storm that they had been calling for was beginning to start, with wind and rain. However, in the happy couple's heart, there was nothing but sunshine and dreams come true.

Okay.... I'll catch you up next time, but I will try to make it shorter.

Thank you Lord in Heaven for prayers answered and dreams come true.