You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
The young boy who became a soldier and a man.
I’m watching this baby soldier stand tall and proud at the front of the cathedral.
It’s an open air pavilion, the wall is the sky. The alter is the sun. The angels are dancing on a cloud watching the ceremony from beyond.
There is a harp and it is heavenly, ethereal, as a warm breeze blows across the pews filled with loved ones.
The pastor talks in a soft spiritual tone. He is connected to God and God seems to be connected to this little pavilion, on a little farm, carved out of a magnificent hillside in Tennessee.
The soldier stands tall and proud, and recites his vows.
His voice is strong, with an occasional touch of nervousness.
I smile inside.
I’m proud of the boy turned soldier turned man.
I gaze across the parents and friends and loved ones.
I see a deer on a pastoral green hill.
It is foraging, but I think it is also listening as two young people become one.
And then the pastor gives permission for the boy turned soldier turned man to kiss the bride.
He does.
It is passionate and heart felt.
The congregation stands and cheers.
It is a lovely life moment.
The boy turned soldier turned man is now a husband as he begins his walk down the aisle.
His new bride is on his arm. She seems to float in a veil of wispy white, as the orange rays of the sun paint the edges of her dress.
I look at their faces.
So much joy, so much love.
They are floating, perhaps not even realizing where they are, that they are even moving across this great threshold of life.
The smile on the boy turned soldier turned man is incandescent.
It’s as bright as the orange sun shimmering on the pond below the open air cathedral.
As the boy turned soldier turned man and now groom approaches, I can feel his excitement, his confidence, his joy.
As he walks down the aisle, his new wife on his side, he sees me.
I am sitting in the back of the sanctuary.
I know he sees me because our eyes lock, our smiles greet, our life moment is real.
He is only 10 feet from me and his face lights up.
I look into the face of the groom who is a man who is a soldier and I still see the boy.
He sees me and a lifetime of memories fill the moment.
The soldier, the groom, the man, was once a boy, a boy who grew up in my house.
He wore a baseball hat at all times. He had a mop of hair that plucked out from under the bill.
The boy was gangly, a string bean, not much of a student.
The boy didn’t mind school, he just wasn’t that interested in school.
The boy was a good friend to my kids. The boy was handsome and all American.
The boy lived at my house and could eat an entire box of cereal at an entire sitting.
The boy went on summer vacations with us, skim boarding in the surf, falling on his head.
The boy loved his dog and played lacrosse and was always polite.
The boy was a good son and a loving sibling.
He joined the military. He’s been in harm’s way. He knows what the sound of a bullet wrizzling by his ear sounds like.
The boy became a soldier and filled out his uniform with 25 pounds of muscle.
The gleem in his eye is still there, but the boy has become a man.
Now the boy is a man, a husband, walking down the aisle.
His gaze meets mine. His smile meets mine.
A lifetime of memories in an instant.
He’s like a son.
I couldn’t be more proud of the man child soldier groom as he nods his head, his bride on his arm and continues out of the sanctuary.
I will embrace him later, cake on his face from the food fight he has with his new bride.
I’m proud of you I will say. You’ve done well.
“Thanks for coming, sir.” he says simply.
What more needs to be said.
His eyes are filled with life. His smile is a beacon of what’s to come.
His embrace is all the thanks I need.
I wish the boy turned soldier turned man turned husband well. I hope that good fortune and happy days fill his horizon.
So do the angels who wink from their celestial perch on the clouds above.
Life’s Crazy™