Who doesn’t like a good wedding? I know I do. Good food, candles, unity sand ;), friends, family, drinks and cake. We went to a wedding for good friends of ours tonight. It was cold. It snowed in SC on November 1st. A day to remember no doubt. But I’ll go a bit further. I will remember this wedding. At least I hope to.

Why? Well it was for good people in an awesome place on a crazy day in weather here in the south. The other reason is that I really enjoyed the message and delivery from the officiating minister. It was not anything particularly unusual. A little 1 Corinthians 13, some rings, vows, a kiss and there you have it.

The difference? I think it’s because I’m older than I was when I heard something similar at our own wedding. I think it’s because the minister was so frank. Marriage is wonderful, it is amazing, it is the best thing I’ve ever done with the most amazing woman. Guess what though? It’s hard. You work at it. You struggle through it and it only gets better. But only if you can manage to remember why you got into this business to begin with. You love each other, you support each other and encourage one another to be your best selfs. You will change. The minister kept on saying, ‘your life will never be the same again’. How very true.

Oh, and don’t forget the important part of the day. The ‘before God and these witnesses…’ We the spectators are certainly the less important part of the equation. You just made covenant with God. Moses broke one of those with the big fella once and watched his people cross the Jordan without him.

So in honor of some awesome people who are awesome friends and good people. Good luck and work hard. After you enjoy the honeymoon of course ;).

Second thought for the night. We are not special parents because we have an special needs child. You may have seen other parents write or say something similar, but it’s true.

We saw an old friend of my wife at this wedding. We were doing what parents who have left their children with the grandparents do. We talked about our kids. We were talking about colds, sick kids, and how it seems like the little things are the most dangerous. They do what we do, in the exact same way. They are good parents to their awesome kids.

I’ll get to the point. Scary things happen. They happen to all of us and our kids whether or not those kids have special needs. Do you know what good parents do in a pinch? They do what they have to for their children. That is all we do, what we have to for our children, it’s nothing special. It is certainly in God’s plans that we have Monkey. But we are not any better or different than any other parents that would do anything for their children. We do what we do because we have to, not because we are any more amazing or different than other people who love their children with the fullness God intended.