Too Much Happiness

I'm sitting here listening to my daughter sing. She's downstairs with Hannah Montana in my portable CD player. The earphones are in and she has no idea that she's filling the entire house with her sweet, somewhat off key rendition of "Make Some Noise". Love it.

I know it's been awhile since I've written anything. It's not that I don't have any blog worthy material. Quite the contrary. Since we last "spoke" I've worked our church's VBS, been to a rocking July 4th pool party, spent the weekend on my friend's houseboat, been told by my husband that I need to get a full-time job, had "the chief" over for dinner (how's that for a shout-out Gena!) and I got to sing back-up for Travis Cottrell. OK. Me and about 80 other people. But still. I'll find time to get to all that later, but right now I want to talk about today.

We just returned home from a wedding. I haven't been to a wedding in years. This one was Lydia's first and she was beside herself with excitement. It was sweet to see it through her eyes. She was grinning from ear to ear almost the entire time. Except when the bride & groom kissed. Then she made that "this is icky" face. Afterwards, there was the reception with food, punch & dancing. We had a blast. The three of us on the dance floor grooving to "Ain't to Proud to Beg". Life doesn't get any better than that. As a matter of fact, this wedding was all about how life can get better, by the grace of God.

The bride is a good friend of ours who also happens to be the realtor that handles all of Dave's houses. We've known her for many years and have come to love her and her 2 beautiful daughters. A few years ago, her world collapsed around her when she discovered her husband was having an affair. Their divorce dealt a cruel blow to her entire family and left her with pain that only Christ could soothe. I don't think she had any intention of ever seeking love out again.

Around the same time there was a minister who was dealt an even bigger blow. A "Job" sized blow. He was traveling home from a vacation with his wife and 3 children when someone ran a stop sign and struck their van. His wife was killed and his youngest son hospitalized. Five days later he was notified that the hospital had given an adult-sized dose of medication to his 17 month old son and he was dead. This man was left with 2 children to raise alone and a calling to fulfill.

By God's grace Lisa & Ridley found each other and today joined their families together. There couldn't be two people who deserve this happiness more. Ridley said something today that I know I'll never forget. "The wedding was a necessity. It's the marriage we're looking forward to."

The sights and sounds of today had me near tears almost every 5 minutes. Lisa & Ridley standing in front of the church with their children was enough to get me started. Then came the reception. Someone pointed out an older lady and told me she was the mom of Ridley's first wife. Then they pointed out her sister. She was smiling and taking pictures of Lisa and her girls. That kind of love and acceptance after all they have been through was too much to handle. Then came the "married couples" dance. The DJ would call out a number and if you had been married less years you had to leave the dance floor. The last couple left shouted out their number - 62 years! Praise God! Then there was the toast by Ridley's best friend. He acknowledged the heartache they had both faced and had us raise our glasses halfway for the happy couple. Then we raised them overhead to salute our Heavenly Father.

That's when we hit the dance floor. There was too much happiness to sit still. Just when you think life can't get any worse, you're reminded it could. Then you're reminded it can also get much better than you ever imagined.