by Karen E. Case
It’s hard to believe it’s less than two weeks now until my daughter turns into a vision of loveliness, I do my best not to let my makeup run, and my husband has to answer that fateful question, “Who gives this woman to be married to this man?”
This woman? Who is “this woman?” That’s our little girl he’s talking about. The one who weighed five and a half pounds at birth. Definitely a member of the “small but mighty” brigade. The memories flow by. The toddler who would fix a fierce eye on a mommy eager to give a helping hand, and gruffly exclaim, “Do it meZULF!!!” Singing rounds and learning harmony at bedtime, until her daddy’s voice would call from the living room, “Aren’t you done singing yet? That child needs to go to sleep!” The “daddy dates” she looked forward to so eagerly.
How hard it was not to be too proud of her cute performance in a Christmas play as a 5th grader, and how much harder it was not to be too proud of her command performance at the age of 16, before 3,000 people at James Madison University. And the trip to Texas the next year, all expenses paid, so she could perform at a Christmas banquet. And then on to college and and all its chances to bask in her reflected glory. (Reflected glory is a natural side of effect of having an actor as a child.)
This woman? Still “small but mighty,” still with a bit of a spunky, independent spirit, still dramatic in more ways than one. And one other thing has remained. At about seven, she once brought us a glass of cold water while we were working in the yard, overjoyed to be able to do something that Jesus had commanded. She still has the desire to do what Jesus says. And happily – wonderfully – her fiance James has that same desire. And because of that, tears notwithstanding, we peacefully and joyfully give this woman.