When Aubrey was a tiny lass
her eyes filled with joy and sparkle
She stood between us in church
one hand on her mother’s shoulder
the other on mine
Life’s adventures beckoned her
Eager to experience the joy of possibilities
she ran half a block ahead of us
always the first to enter the Magic Kingdom
We didn’t discover the luster of her voice
until she was well on her way to stardom
We sang to her in the car
and she sang to us
with one goal in mind
to calm her nerves so she wouldn’t drive us crazy
With me at the wheel
her mom soothed her erupting spirit
For then she was a little girl
who required much nurturing
Today she is a woman
a bride already
No longer is she to be the nurtured one
except in moments of retreat
in the arms and care of her lover
For now she is hewn to become the pillar
a pillar of strength, wisdom, grace, beauty and conviction
who together with her husband
will lay the foundation for a new family
and hold at her breast
the fullness of life and the oldest of responsibilities,
blessed by the glory of God’s creation
She has met a man who matches her timbre
[purposely spelled with an “re”]
whose sense of responsibility matches her drive
whose heart beats with a rhythm
that will synchronize with hers to beat as one
as mine has in the finest of hours spent with her mother
We wish them well
We drink them a toast
Our love travels with them forever
long after our own hearts have stopped beating
and the sound of the wind and the beat of the drums
to which we must all march in this life
cuts from faint to darkness in our own ears
but plays on loudly within the rapture of the
love that has burst forth between these two
Just as the buds open in spring to form new leaves
and the fragrance of orchard blossoms morph into fruit
which feeds our plains and graces our valleys
so do I, this day, offer this prayer for Aubrey and Phil
Lift your glasses high, my friends, and join me
one and all
in robust and raucous praise
of all that is Good and Holy
that their years will be filled with joy
scant on sorrow
full of success
limited in hardship
and long on the fulfillment of their dreams
I offer this Father’s Prayer today
in honor of Phil and Aubrey Greenan
on this, their wedding day
the twenty-seventh day of June
in the year of our Lord, 2009
Anno Domini
Amen
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