No Go Disappointment!

I wasn’t able to make it to my nephew Shane’s wedding today, and that is a huge disappointment. I started off on the 100-mile trip. Before I had gone 40 miles, the car started acting up. I thought maybe the first incident was a fluke. Before I got to the next exit, it did it again. I called my husband and turned around to head home. By then, I had to get off the interstate because the car wouldn’t go over 40 miles an hour. I am so thankful that I was able to get home. Now the car is sitting and waiting until a mechanic can look at it. I came home, cried, and then “took to my bed” as all good Southern women do when life is too much. After a nap, I’m feeling much less devastated.

My husband took the car out to see what was wrong. He came home and said those classic male words that I hate to hear. “Gee, honey, I couldn’t find anything wrong with it.” I thought, “Of course you can’t find anything wrong when you take it around the block at 20 miles an hour. Try driving on the interstate when the engine suddenly roars, the tachometer whips back and forth, and the pressing forward stops!” Beginning to coast when a huge semi is on your tale is no fun!

I really hate missing the wedding. This nephew is the one who has always seemed older than his years. He and his older brother lived right down the street from us when my daughters were small. My two daughters, then his brother, then him—they looked like little stair-steps, and any time people saw us out, they assumed that all four children were mine. And they seemed like my own sons, just as my girls were Shirley’s daughters. I remember one time when Shane was about four years old. He was telling me a long involved story about something, and my mind started to wander. He reached up, placed his two hands on my cheeks, looked straight in my eyes, and said “Aunt Linda, you’re not listening to me.” Needless to say, I paid attention to the rest of the story! Shane was always coming up with some deep philosophical comment that amazed us. We thought that he would grow up to be a preacher or a professor. He has grown up to work with a Christian camp youth ministry, and he does a fabulous job.

I pulled out old family photos this evening and looked through them, remembering what a sweet little boy he was and how much fun we had. He’s brought great joy to my life. I hope that he and his new wife have a blessed marriage. And I sure hope that someone made a video of his wedding!