Only a few weeks ago, I became the “mother of the groom” for the very first time. Our daughter, the oldest of our three children, was married three years ago and that was hard enough – a strange mixture of happiness and tears, excitement for a newly-launched family and a bit of melancholy for the child that was now all grown up! As parents, our job is to work ourselves out of a job – taking a completely dependent infant and turning them loose on society some 18 years later as, hopefully, independent, moral, loving, productive members of society.

A son’s a son till he takes a wife, but a daughter’s a daughter for the rest of her life! I’m sure you’ve heard this before and it’s true. My son, Stephen and his sweetheart met each other for the first time in 5th grade. They started dating as juniors in high school and the romance endured 4 years at CU Boulder. Finally, this summer, they officially became husband and wife in Grand Lake, Colorado with Mt. Baldy and the Rocky Mountain National Park in the background. For the record, my new daughter-in-law is easy to love and has been part of our family for years before their wedding on June 26th. Still, it was a little hard releasing my little boy to another woman, I must say. For years, I was the only woman in his life. Whether I was wearing a cocktail dress or an old bathrobe, hair color or jewels, he always told me I was “beautiful” and that one day he would marry me. Aah – unconditional love. My adorable new daughter-in-law is a wonderful cook, sweet as the day is long, funny, intelligent and, not surprisingly, beautiful! As it should be, she is the new woman in my little boy’s life. After multiple viewings of “Mother of the Bride” (conditioning myself so as not to cry) I behaved myself and did not dissolve into a puddle of water. Those precious memories are mine to keep, but my little boy, now a Man – is all grown up and he’s going to make my dear Tahnee a wonderful husband and father.