Elin's Getting Married

 


   I saw the post on Facebook. Elin, one of my stepdaughters, is going to marry her boyfriend. The wedding will be in the beginning of April. I guess this is how you announce such things now. I knew that she and Chet were engaged, but I've known people who were engaged for years and years. I thought this would be the case with Elin and Chet. 

  C and I will not be at the wedding. Elin told me that this would be a very small ceremony followed by a lunch. After lunch they will leave for their honeymoon. Elin's been married twice so I wasn't expecting a large ceremony.

   I wanted to get her something for her wedding outfit. A good place to look for such things is the Chapel of Love at the Mall of America. I looked over the tiaras, hair jewelry and other things. Then I spotted it. It was in a corner. It was a small rhinestone horseshoe. 

   The horseshoe has always been a symbol of luck. Since Elin and Chet live in Texas, a horseshoe just seemed like the perfect thing. My rule is that when I see something that makes me think of a particular person, I should buy it for them. I bought the horseshoe.

   It has the benefit of being easy and relatively inexpensive to mail. Along with the horseshoe I'm going to write a letter with some advice in it. I know the last thing Elin wants is marriage advice but I want to share some things I've learned. Just because they put the "step" in front of parent doesn't make me less of a parent.

   I want to tell her that the most important thing is to be friends. Friendship is the best base for a marriage. Love can grow from friendship. It is also important that your spouse be the most important person in your life. I know that sounds strange, because most people think that the children should come first. In my opinion, a couple with a strong bond between them will be better parents. 

   One thing I want to tell her is not to go into a marriage thinking that divorce is an option. This was something that I heard when I was engaged. It came from a fundamentalist preacher that I didn't like. I understood it to mean that when challenges arise and they always do, do not run, work them out. Seek help if needed. Be truly committed.

   The last thing I want to tell her is that marriage is a lot of work and sometimes not much fun. There is, however, a richness in life that comes with having a partner for the journey. The joy is doubled and the sadness halved. I love sharing new things with C and exploring together. My wish for Elin and Chet is that they experience the joy that C and I have in our marriage. 

   I hope that horseshoe fills up with love and blessing and rains down over them both and their family.



   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Simple Things

     C and I usually have a date day or at least part of a date day once a week. It's a time where we spend time with each other doing something fun or maybe simply having lunch out. Since Thursday was Thanksgiving and neither of us felt like eating out, we decided to go out for a hot chocolate.   Right before we left C had an idea. We should get our hot chocolate and also share a peppermint shake from Chick-fil-A. He said the the combination of the hot chocolate and the cool peppermint shake would be really good. I thought it was overkill, but agreed to do it.    After dropping a loaf of bread off at a friend's house we went through the drive through to get the hot chocolate. When I have a choice I usually get dark chocolate. It's not quite as sweet and has lots of flavour. C always gets milk chocolate. Then we went to Chick-fil-A. C went inside and picked up our preordered shake. It was topped with whipped cream and a cherry. I asked C if he wanted to cherry. He said no s
Read more

Released

   A few weeks ago I was asked to stay after a Ward Council meeting. Normally it's a meeting I don't attend, but the Relief Society president was out of town and one of my duties was to sit in for her on such meetings. I was fairly sure I knew what it was going to be about.     After the meeting I stayed behind while everyone had left. It was just me and one of the bishop's counselors. We sat in some chairs at one side of the bishop's office. He told me that I was going to be released from my calling as a Relief Society counselor. The release was going to be announced at Sacrament meeting (what the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints call their worship service.) that would take place in about 20 minutes. I'm sure I startled the counselor with my expression of joy and relief at what he told me. I'm sure he was expecting me to be upset and bewildered. Usually one knows about a release at least a few days before it happens.     I had a feeling that this was
Read more

Looking for A New Project

           Earlier this year I finished the 10 stitch blanket that I've been working on for a long time. It was a very relaxing project and I enjoyed working on it. Over the summer I haven't knit anything because of lack of time. Now it's fall and I have the itch to start knitting again. I also want a project to take to Door County with me.     I know that I said I wanted to knit a pair of socks, but I'm not sure now. I'd have to teach myself how to knit using a magic loop. I'm sure I could figure it out, but I'd  really like to do something easy and relaxing like that blanket was.     One project I was going to do is to crochet all the granny squares I have together to make a nice little blanket for Willow. It would be fun and relaxing, but it would be hard to take all those granny squares to Door County with me. The same is true for the sample blanket that I want to start. (although I could take a few small balls of yarn along and some stitch patterns to m
Read more