A Wedding In New York: A Time To Laugh And A Time To Dance

My mind is filled with a slide show that just won't stop, and it's brimming with happy memories.

My son, Michael, married his sweetheart last weekend in New York City, and it was a whirlwind trip to the Big Apple for my Hoosier family.

We were tourists for a few days, savoring some time together despite the steady rain. While we were there we took a taxi cab ride to Battery Park to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty, and we observed a respectful silence during our time at the Ground Zero Memorial.

In a New York minute, it was Friday night and time for the wedding rehearsal at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Manhattan, followed by a dinner with our soon-to-be-blended families.

Saturday arrived full of sunshine. It was mid-afternoon when my husband, son and I – both of them dashing in their tuxedos and me in my fancy mother-of-the-groom dress – walked down the city streets together, looking to hail a cab to take us to the church.

When we arrived, the elderly pastor was waiting for us. He is a man so filled with reverence and belief in the sacredness of the Eucharist that it has become the center of his existence.

When Melissa arrived she was glowing. Her teary-eyed mother and her nervous father each took an arm, and they walked their first-born child up the aisle to her bridegroom.

We heard the vows, watched the ring exchange, and listened to the pastor encourage them to love and respect one another. We shook hands and hugged old and new family members, and before you knew it, the wedding ceremony was over and we were all walking down the aisle to the sounds of "Ode to Joy."

We were driven to a riverside park in Queens with an outstanding view of the Manhattan skyline for a few photos, and then we headed on to a reception hall. I'm Irish-American and my husband is German-American with pretty deep roots here in southern Indiana. Our new daughter-in-law's family is from the Dominican Republic, and they really know how to celebrate a wedding.

At the reception, the buffet tables were loaded with the finest D.R. entrees including beef and cheese empanadas and Dominican lasagna, and soon the DJ was playing Bachata music.

But before the party really got started, there was a tender moment as Michael and I danced to the tune of "What a Wonderful World" sung by Louis Armstrong. Time seemed to slow as I danced with my 32-year-old son, and it really was a wonderful world.

Biblical scholars say Ecclesiastes was written about 300 B.C. In the third chapter, the writer reminds us, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

He writes, "There is a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance."

Like every family, we've had our times of weeping and our times of mourning -- but not last weekend.

Last weekend was our time to laugh and our time to dance. It really was our time for joy.

My dear friend, Donna, once told me that every prayer should be filled with four elements: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication.

That didn't happen in New York last weekend.

My heart was so filled with joy at the union of Michael and Melissa that my only prayers were ones of thanksgiving.