Happy Tears Flowing These Days

A friend of mine remarked recently that after last year of all the tragic things that happened to me, I have an abundance of good things on the horizon. That is very true.

It is also a complicated time of preparing to finish moving out of my home for it’s demolition, and also planning my daughter’s wedding. Moving, building a new home, and planning a wedding – all major life events. As if I wasn’t busy enough before!

Another friend mentioned she was looking forward to my blogging about being the mother of a bride and putting my emotions into words. So here’s the first installment of that, because I must say, living these moments is one both the daughter and mother dream about for many years. Now that it is upon me, I must document my feelings- otherwise, they will burst out of me in some other way and that would not be pretty.

It’s a time of a plethora of happy tears. I am a natural smiler and a happy person, and I am also a big baby who cries a lot. Last year I cried a river over losing my home and a parent. Now I cry happy tears.

Although the moment my daughter was to become engaged to her besherit (Hebrew for the one she was fated for) was known by me for quite a while, when it actually happened – when my baby girl accepted a ring, and a proposal, and a promise to marry- my heart just about leapt out of my chest with happiness. We had a celebration directly after the big private moment between the two of them, and I was worried about crying off my makeup because my tears were pretty muchout of control.

That’s because when I heard the emotion in her voice from her phone call to me right afterwards, and then when I saw her face and her extreme happiness in person, I entered a different sphere of being. Maybe that famous Cloud Nine?’

Many mothers dream of their little girl becoming a bride and most little girls dream of that day too.

Let me attempt to explain this Princess/Bride-for-a-Day concept to those who may be parents of boys and/or childless people who may not understand. Even a long time friend who works at Disney had to have this princess concept explained and one would think a Disney executive would understand it quite well.

Becoming a bride is that one moment in time where a girl does not have to imagine being a Disney princess, or a member of the British or other foreign royalty – it is their chance to be an actual princess for the day as they become a bride. They dress like a princess, look like a princess, and all attention is upon them. They will marry their prince. It is the day when their fairy tale comes true.

Post engagement, there was a flurry of activity – finding a date that works for everyone, ($@#$%&) booking a venue, checking with clergy to make sure the date was available. No happy tears here, just relief when the big parts are all set.

And then, and then the real princess moment arrives in the planning: finding that perfect wedding dress.

I can’t even describe how emotional it is when a mother sees her little girl in a flowing bridal gown that suits her personality to a tee. The happy tears just flow, without warning, with total abandon. The bride-to-be looks like a princess, like a vision in a fairy tale, yet she is your baby girl all grown up. You actually see with your own eyes what an unbelievably beautiful bride she will be on her special day, and how that special person she is will shine for all to see. (And the ladies at the shop tell her she should be a bridal gown model, so aside from making a sale, they obviously agree!)

Venue shopping is a whole other thing requiring patience, and luck. No happy tears yet, though I think my saline quotient is a bit low these days from all of the other events above.

So I will finish here with a peek at the dress:

Fooled ya, didn’t I?? No one can see the bride until her day! Until next time!