A Perfect Wedding

It was so many years ago - six or seven or maybe even closing in on eight? - when my niece Kate came to a family dinner at my parents' home and brought along with her a BOY. She was out of high school and I know she had had a boyfriend before but I had never met him. This new kid - Cameron was his name - was quiet and friendly and his hair was dyed an absolute Cookie Monster-blue. Ok, great, whatever, welcome to the party!

Well, he and Kate were dragged downstairs by some crazy combination of the grand kids while we boring grownups sat upstairs and ate and talked. A while later Kate and Cameron came upstairs and we all started laughing. Cameron had very gamely allowed all the little kids to dress him up, head to toe, in frilly white dress ups. A gown, a lovely little hat, a shawl, all the good stuff. And he just had fun and played. That caught my attention. This kid was definitely different than other boys.

Fast forward all those years - and Cameron is still around. He has proven himself time and time again to be an absolute gem. Since my sister, Kate's mom, moved away a few years ago, Kate and her Cameron have spent quite a bit of time at our house. We love feeding them, they gave us our first batch of chickens, they introduced us to some of our favorite shows, especially our Halloween favorite, Over the Garden Wall. They have babysat our kids, they have just been a big part of our lives. We love them.

Then Cameron graduated from the University with a nuclear engineering degree, and he got a great job. Far away. In Connecticut. And Kate was still in the middle of her Mortuary Sciences degree here in town. So for a year now they have been living apart. It's been really rough on both of them, and although we will miss Kate terribly when she graduates and heads to live in Connecticut, we will be so happy for them.

In the meantime, Cameron proposed to Kate and gave her a magnificent ring that would pretty much hurt me to wear but is just perfect for Kate. They planned to wait for a year or more before they could actually get married. But then something happened with their insurance and it became clear that marriage sooner would be better. So they began to plan a small and simple wedding that would get the job done, but they still hoped to plan a big and celebratory wedding later on. Of course this small wedding experienced what all weddings do...it grew and grew. It was still a small event but it was just lovely.

Guess where they got married? The cemetery! If you don't know these two, that would sound weird, but it was just perfect. That's where their first date was and also where Cameron proposed. It was a lovely Saturday in mid-November. Peter and Sheri came up - Kate had a lot more family there than Cameron did, who didn't even have all of his siblings there. And I know more of my family would have liked to be there but it was never meant to be the all-inclusive wedding they still hope to have. It was just a nice afternoon as the sun was setting, chilly and clear. We gathered and held candles that had a very hard time staying lit. There were sweet quotes they shared with each other, and funny ones. They had a dear friend officiate. What a special day.

It was a lovely ceremony. We are so happy for these two wonderful people.