The seminal events of our life

Even though all of us are different, we all share many commonalities as well and the most obvious of those are the significant moments that occur in all of our lives sooner or later; births, deaths, marriages, etc. And even though these things happen to everyone, when they happen to us, it's always a life-changing experience. I had one of those last Friday when my middle son got married.

With me, it always starts with the journey because, from McCook, every trip is a journey since we're not close to anything. Typically there are four options when it comes to travel; car, plane, train, or bus. If you're traveling east or west out of McCook, three of those options are available since we have no bus service. But if you're going north or south, you're limited to two, since the east-west Amtrak route is the only passenger train service we have available. On top of that, I wouldn't ride Amtrak for more than three or four hours even if it was available, thanks to the past experiences I've written about in this column.

So that left flying or driving and after my last flight, I'm not too keen on flying either plus it's not easy or inexpensive to do. The most convenient way would be to fly from McCook to Denver and then on to Arkansas but that's not a cheap way to go. On the other hand, if you drive to DIA, it's an eight hour round-trip, plus you have to pay for parking your car while you're gone. That tab for parking was $90 the last time I flew, plus $80 for gas, plus the plane fare which was $280. On the other hand, if I drive to Arkansas, it's a 21 hour round trip and $160 in gas so that's what I decided to do, even though I don't like driving that far by myself. So I filled up the T-bird, plugged my iPod into my car's sound system and headed south. The drive was long, boring, and tiresome and I was receiving frequent calls from my son Michael who always provides me with weather reports while I'm on the road. This time the storms stayed away and when I made it to Russellville, Michael and Nicki, his bride-to-be were waiting for me at his mom's house, along with fried chicken, cole slaw, baked beans, and hot biscuits, which was a nice way to end a long, laborious drive.

Thursday was the wedding rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner and Friday was the big day. My youngest son, Will, and his girlfriend Erica came over to the house Friday morning and we loaded up in Linda's brand new Jeep and headed for the church. Nicki wanted everyone to dress at the church so pictures could be taken so that's what we did. Erica was a bridesmaid, Will was a groomsman and I was Michael's best man. Linda, Michael and Will's mom, looked as beautiful as the day I married her when she was escorted in and took her seat.

As I stood by Michael's side and listened to him recite his vows as the confidant man he has become, his whole life flashed in front of my eyes. I recalled the day he was born and the utter joy his mom and I felt when he first appeared in the world. I remembered the uncountable joys he gave us as he went through toddler-hood, his first day in kindergarten, and all the school experiences he had over the following years. I recounted the first time he was in love and how she broke his heart and how my heart was broken too because of it. I went over in my mind all of the joys he had experienced in his life and how we had felt the same joy he had and all of his disappointments, illnesses and injuries and how we had ached and hurt with him through every one of them.

I thought about how we had watched him grow into a mature, responsible adult from the baby he once was and I couldn't hold back the tears as I watched and listened to him say the words that would provide the transition from his birth family to his new family.

And then it was over. Michael and Nicki had entered into a covenant that would make them responsible and obligated to each other for the rest of their lives and I was happy and sad at the same time. Happy for the pure joy I saw in his face in marrying the woman he loves and sad because I knew things would never be quite the same ever again.