The wedding unexpectedly got to me

Last evening Andrew and I attended a wedding.  I had really been looking forward to it as it was a colleague of Andrew's, and I knew it would have a lot of people I would know and hadn't seen in a while.  It was a really lovely ceremony.  I was thrilled to see that we had been assigned to sit with exactly the people I would have chosen if I had been allowed to choose.  This was a younger colleague who was also a grad of the district about ten years ago, so there were truly many people of all ages that we knew in attendance.

I found myself being a little emotional about seeing all of the other teachers.  Andrew has awesome co-workers.  Part of my heart will always be at that school.  I love my job though, and I'm very grateful that it is MY job.  I'm not just filling in for someone else.

The end really got to me though.  Andrew and I were chatting with a classmate of Robert, and this young man had also joined the Navy.  This young man had not had an easy childhood.  Although his mother is a very nice person, she'd had drug issues and has been incarcerated on more than one occasion.  He recently finished his enlistment and is back in town and helping to coach a couple of sports.  As we were leaving, we chatted, and Andrew and I reminded him that if he ever needed anything, we'd be happy to help.  I walked outside and began to cry.  I couldn't help but be sad and emotional about the person my son is.  He is my son, and he always will be, but I also know (and I do accept) that he doesn't want to be.

The emotions caught me off guard, but I didn't let it ruin what had been a really fun evening.  We have four weddings this year, and they always make me grateful for my own wedding twenty years ago!