Thank you all so much for the warm wishes, blessings, poems, and prayers on our behalf. I was crying as I was reading this topic. You all will never know how much of a blessing it is for me to count you all as friends.
Our wedding ceremony was simply beautiful. We had "Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts and "Memories Of Us" by Tracy Byrd played at the beginning before I walked down the aisle to my cowboy because we based our wedding vows on those songs. The preacher neighbor, also, recited the more traditional vows with us.
I have been on many dead-end roads on the way to find my cowboy and have been through lots of pain. It was all worth it now, because I wouldn't change a thing. I have never felt such love from a man in my life and I have never loved anyone like I do him.
Jim's vows were assuring me that we would make our own memories to replace the ones that have filled us with such pain. It was bad enough that I was crying while I ad-libbed my vows, but when he nearly started crying while he was saying his, I nearly lost it. But....they were tears of joy and hope instead of pain and fear.
Both of my children made it to the ceremony. I went to NC last Wednesday evening to pick Megan up because she was afraid her car wouldn't make it here. She helped out with the decorations the night before the ceremony and made the sign for our "hitching" post. I was so afraid she would not even attempt to come because she has had some mixed feelings about Jim and I being together.
My son, Justin, gave me away. He would not dress up in cowboy duds, though. He joked that he thought he would have to carry me down the aisle because I was shaking so badly from not eating and the emotions that were running so highly.
My new son, Chris, offered a toast to us before we cut the cake. In the toast he said that his dad had met his match, and that there couldn't be a better woman made for him. Made me feel truly welcomed as his father's new wife.
My aunt sang the first song that we danced to. "If You Ever Have Forever In Mind" by Vince Gill. That was the very first song we ever danced to and she was singing it then, too, at karaoke. It really meant a lot to us.
Karaoke was ran by my aunt/partner and two of our kj friends. They would not let me touch the system. They said that I was supposed to enjoy my day and not work.
My first song as Jim's wife was "The Woman In Me" by Shania Twain. I cried while singing it to him and lost a couple of notes. Jim sang "Keeper Of The Stars" by Tracy Byrd to me. Yep, he tipped his hat to God for bringing us together while singing it, too!
Dianna