Bride's Family Wishes

My dearest love Caroline; you were born on a Tuesday morning in late October with a crisp chill in the air. Your Nana Walsh came and stayed with us two weeks before you were born, so she could help take care of you and me while your father worked. We were all so excited about the new life in our family and the promise you held.

We considered a home birth with a midwife, as per the request of your grandmother, but in the end, you were born at the hospital near home. The doctor held you up for your father and me to see how beautiful you were, and then our nurse, Judy Curtin, cleaned you up and gave you to me to hold for the first time.

You looked up at me with your beautiful blue eyes and with such sincerity that I worried you might be a little bit too serious. You looked at your father without blinking when he held you and then curled your tiny hand around his finger, and he was lost forever.

The whole family, all the Phelans, and Walshs, all the aunts, uncles, and cousins, and so many friends came to celebrate your baptism, and afterward, we all dined at Amrhiens. I remember thinking that day that you are the light of our family, a new family of three, and your father and I were full of love for you.

When you were about five, I remember one summer sitting on the porch of the beach house watching you run around and play with the other children. You were so small, so skinny with skinny little legs sticking out of your baggy shorts but I knew even then that you had the heart of a lion, beating with a determination that would take you far in life.

When you were fourteen, you came home crying with your first broken heart. I remember how your tears and sadness also broke my heart, even though you always seem to bounce back from tribulations with compassion and humor, and a strength that I admire so.

I will always cherish the long talks we had about life, love, and the future during those long hot summer days by the ocean. You asked me a million times how your father and I met and fell in love. I treasure every time I told the story and every time you cared.

When you turned sixteen you did what most young teenagers do; you started to pull away from your family and me. I know that I was not always good to you about your distance. You have to understand, my dearest girl, that I always considered you part of me.

The day you left for college was one of the hardest days of my life. I had to face that childhood was over for you, and I honestly didn't want it to end so soon. But you turned into a woman that I love with all my heart and am so very proud. That was all a moment ago.

Now you are starting your own family. Drew is a fine man, and we all love him, but don't forget to be a strong independent woman. The best marriages are those where both spouses are active and independent but supportive of each other. Where you each bring out the best in each other.

My dearest Caroline, I have many hopes for your future life with Drew.

I hope that you have a smooth and easy path before you with very little heartbreak. No matter who you are or how much money you have, life will always throw you a curve ball that can challenge your soul. Rise to meet it with the strength you carry with you.

I hope that you and Drew stay madly in love even when you are old and frail. Marriage will often become a mere companionship, but that friendship can grow stronger and the love deeper with each passing year. Your father and I have been lucky in love, and I hope the Irish luck stays with you and with Drew.

Most of all, I hope you have children who touch you in your heart the way you and your siblings have touched my heart. Children who surprise you every day, because, my dearest daughter, it is only a moment away when your daughter will be walking down the aisle to start her new life with her husband, and all the memories I just spoke of will be behind you.

I wish for you to be as present in your life with your new family as I was with you in mine. Also, remember that even though you are leaving us to start a family of your own, you will always have a family here that you can rely on, no matter what.

We love you with all our hearts, and we are so very proud that you are our daughter. We wish you and Drew a blessed life.