Wedding Cards Found in the Attic

A few weeks ago I was reorganizing a little bit in our attic and I came across a little box.  I opened it up and inside were just a few special wedding cards I saved from our ceremony 17 (!) years ago.  I typically don’t save a lot of cards, but every card in this little box was saved for a special reason . . . each one was so unique, or said something so precious from a person with vibrant personality.

For example, from one of my husband’s good high school friends who played marimba at our ceremony.  Not many people are lucky enough to have a marimba for special music at their wedding, but I did! The card opened up to a simply handwritten message:  “Now you’re screwed!”  Oh the irony.  That card deserved to be in a box to make me laugh 17.25 years later.

There were also cards from each of our grandparents.  We were both so blessed to have amazing grandparents, and even more blessed that all but one living grandparent was able to be at the church the day of our wedding.  Each of the cards from our grandparents included a special little note, and it was so fun to read them after so many years.  All of those precious grandparents, whom we loved so very dearly, has now passed on, but each one of them left us rich in memories and deeply influenced us.  From my husband’s grandparents was a message to love the Lord, and a special admonition for him to take extra good care of me.  From my Grandma Edna, a note that conceded that a good marriage was a lot of work, more work than anyone ever thought possible, and that we were sure to face gobs of trials and dark times.  This was followed by an observation that she loved spending time with both of us and that she could tell that God knit us together tightly and that we were good for one another, and that in the end our faith would see us through anything that came our way.  That’s my slightly pessimistic but very practical Grandma.  Gosh, I loved her!  From my other grandmother, Grandma Jan, was a note that told of how I haven’t stopped surprising her from the day that she met me, how she cherished all the time she got to spend with me, and how she was glad that I met someone so funny, smart and special.  Just looking at the handwriting of my grandmothers filled me up with memories of how special my relationships were with them.

We are super blessed to have grandparents that modeled selfless marriage to us, grandparents that showed us through who they were what sacrificial love looked like, whether it was giving the other person the space they needed, the attention they needed, the respect they needed, our grandparents showed us what it was like to stick by someone for a very long time. My husband’s grandparents lived lives that overflowed with their patience and love of each other.  They cared so deeply for one another even when the other person was irritating them to pieces. Their lives are a testimony of their love of God and their love of people. My grandparents across the driveway would loudly bicker with each other to the point of driving themselves crazy about politics or social theories just for fun.  They’d get grumpy with one another and then love each other in lavish ways.  All of our grandparents were quirky people, and they showed us what it was like to successfully live long term with the other person’s quirkiness.

I carefully placed all of those special cards back in that little box so that I can rediscover them (such a special treat)  sometime again in the future.