Goddesses in the Dust: Brides, Mothers and Holy Chutzpah

The Saturday before last, my daughter got married. For the past 12 months, she's balanced her first year of law school with planning this pivotal event. As I watch her launch into her new life, I think back to what it means to be a mother, and know that my mother would have loved to join in this celebration.

She stood by my side at my wedding 

as I stood by my daughter's...

...since the beginning.

As the music cued up to walk her down the aisle, I didn't know if I could hold back the tears. I knew such tears would be shed for how fast childhood goes by, for my parents and mother in law not present for an event they would have been overjoyed to attend.

But I knew that I would feel pride and a deep, profound happiness. Weddings are not only a celebration of the couple, they are a celebration of an entire family and friends coming together. They are a celebration of life itself. So right before we walked our girl down the aisle, my husband and I sniffling, she suddenly said to both of us, "Look, look!!!" With a huge smile on her face, she did an impromptu raise the roof motion with her arms, along with a shimmy dance move, her beautiful dress swaying with the motion. Through the tears, I laughed, my husband laughed, and we marched her through that door.

And for the rest of the night we alternated, laughing, shedding a few more tears, and dancing till we dropped....remembering a night long ago when we were hoisted in the air for our own chair dance

and reliving that moment in the eyes of our children

What holy chutzpah we humans have, indeed......