Purple Sky's and Union

It was a warm summer night, some garden of Eden, well a garden of Tipton, Michigan, and on this evening separate hearts from all around were here with a single purpose: to witness. Some were friends, some were relatives, some new them both, some knew only one. It's interesting this ancient ritual of union, sometimes the words are different but the outcome is always the same, two hearts. I watched the little girl dropping rose petals, focused on the task at hand, felt the humidity in the August air, and tried to blow the many little "no see um’s" off course. In the background guitar music played and one of the two hearts made his way to the gazebo and waited. I don't know how old Randy is but I did know that in a few minutes his life as he had known it till now would never be the same. Emily suddenly appeared with her Dad, a simple but elegant white gown contrasting with the dark thick lawn and I was surprised that her Dad could keep his tears from seeking the earth below. With his first few steps and his daughter at his side is where my tears began, you see I knew, all Daddy's know, that this walk shared by Father and daughter can only end in one way. A Father giving his baby away with a kiss, no Father wants to be a Father when it comes to his little girl he always wants to be: Daddy. A Daddy wants those little fingers back, the giggling, the innocence, the boy craziness, even the late night phone calls on school nights. This is what the Almighty planned, all Daddy's know this day will come, we just never wish it would. I watched the transition where he offered her hand to this young man, he even said the words that would seal them together forever, and I marveled at his strength as my tears touched the earth and thought how perfect and wonderful it all was... that the very Man and the very God who both shared in the creation of her life would at the same moment in time unselfishly entrust that precious life to another......