So, Blaire and Jess did a thing …
Our baby daughter married her best friend and gay partner this October. The Wedding was THE most beautiful we’ve ever experienced and our endless gratitude goes to the wonderful staff at Drakewood Farm for your amazing talents and skills.
Our little “Blaire-Blaire”, the “Blairest” of them all, came out of her Mama’s womb breach, feisty, strong-willed, and Independent. Just ask every baby sitter, teacher, grandparent, and friend who’s ever known her! Jess came into Blaire’s life through mutual friends around Nashville, and they immediately “knew” … she’s the one. We all knew. And, it’s been beautiful to watch their love grow to this amazing Day.
Blaire and Jess were surrounded for the past few years by their amazing community of LGBTQ+ friends and family in Nashville. We had met a few of these beautiful people, occasionally during quick visits to Nashville or Birmingham, but had never truly spent any quality time with them. We had only learned of their love and care for Blaire and Jess via random incidents of COVID-19 trauma, job changes, errand running, and simple acts of Love.
As I walked our Baby Girl down the aisle last Friday evening under the canopy of Greens, Yellows, Blues, and other amazing hues of nature that our Father provided, my heart leapt into my throat, of course. This was It. The Big Day. Her Wedding Day. I was “giving her away”. Or, that’s what I felt for a moment.
As the ceremony flowed, so did the laughs, the tears, the joys, and the vows. Those vows!
Blaire and Jess wrote out their vows the morning of Wedding Day. Life had been so busy for us all, with our relocation from the Coast, to CV19 concerns, to booking the venue, to preparations for the Day. So finally, they jotted down the vows that were in their hearts, individually and privately. Then, at that ceremonial moment, they both spoke words that both had felt for months leading up to this moment, “… you are the sky. Everything else, it’s just the weather.”
Wow. Tears. Hankies. More tears!
Photos, dance, music, wine, beers, and food followed. More photos, and more dance! Then, began the Toasts. Many beautiful friends shared their love and memories of Jess and Blaire, their “firsts”, their budding relationships, their own individual remembrances and nuances of moments with both our girls. Then, my brother Danny shared his thoughts and the Love. Then, his boys shared. Then, our boys shared. Then, it was my turn.
I wanted Blaire and Jess to know how deeply LOVED and EMBRACED they are. By their friends, by their Nashville family, by their family of origin, but mostly by the Father. He LOVES them. More than ANY of us can. More than any of us will EVER love them. And, He desires for them to know Him — more fully and wonderfully than ever.
I shared a few words from my extemporaneous ADHD heart, many of which were probably my typical filibuster, but from the heart nonetheless. One thought that I do recall sharing is that … the Love of the Father has become more fully significant to me through this marriage of my Daughter and her Bride.
John 3:16 means SO much more!
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16 NLT
So does 1 John 3:16 mean so much more!
“We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.” – 1 John 3:16 NLT
Blaire and Jess have lived out these two very simple LOVE passages from scripture. So have their friends. So have the plethora of Nashville community connections who have created safe spaces for gay and queer people who have been abused, rejected, bullied, harassed, objectified, and thrown aside.
We have learned, all over again, what Love really looks like. Love is Love. The old hymns and the new worship songs call God’s Love … wondrous, greater far, boundless, measureless, strong, enduring, deeper, eternal, endless, reckless, beautiful, holy … and unconditional.
Love is Love. It is all those things from the hymns and songs. It is all those longings we feel for our beloved spouses and partners. It is all those hopes and wishes that we all feel for our babies. It is that yearning we always feel down deep in our soul for our Father.
So, congratulations Blaire and Jess! We celebrate You. We bless You. We see You. We embrace You. And, we release You to go and Love others with the Love that you’ve been so graciously shown.
#LoveIsLove
#LoveWINS