Let it Rain...

What do you remember the most about the happiest day of your life?

I was listening to my iPod and the song "Let It Rain" by my mom came on (Simpli Lauri, her other stuff is available on iTunes and Amazon... which is just weird, incase you were wondering). Whenever I hear this song, I think of our wedding day. Why? Well for those of you at our wedding, you can probably imagine why. For one - my mom sang this song at the wedding during the meal. For two - it rained on our wedding day. I mean - RAINED. Right when the processional started the skies just opened up. This was kind of disappointing for us because a huge part of the reason we had the wedding where we did was because of the amazing outdoor ceremony spot they had. We were fortunate enough to also have an amazing back-up indoor location, but it was a small let down to have it be moved inside. There was a lot of natural light in the room we ended up having the ceremony in and it really was a beautiful wedding in spite of the rain.

I remember being so afraid of Steve being upset because of the rain. I was shaking and almost crying at one point. In hindsight, I realize how ridiculous that was. We can't control the weather, and we both realized it. Once I came around the corner with my dad and saw Steve standing with our bridal party and the pastor at the end of the aisle nothing else mattered. I was getting MARRIED. To STEVE. We were all smiles the whole day, disgustingly and sugary happy - a mood that no rain, sleet, or snow could take away from us. Steve kept looking at the DJ and saying "My WIFE!!!" with a big smile every time the DJ said "Steve, if I could just get you to stand over here with your wife for a minute". It was a happiness that I remember in our best and our worst moments because really - those are what it's all about.

There's one part of my mom's song that gets me every time. It's the last verse:

"Years went by and the two of us sat and watched our little girl
Promising her life and her love to a man in a brand new world.
The sun flinched back and its deep blue sky quickly turned to grey,
As the mist fell all around us, I heard my little girl say -
'Let it rain! The sun shines in my soul!
Let it rain! You said the stars were mine to hold.
Lift your face up to the clouds, let the rain fall all around...'"

They say that rain on your wedding day is good luck. While I still maintain that "they" only say that to make you feel better about lousy weather on the best day ever, I can say that the rain that day lent a lot of positivity to the event. God blessed us with the rain, the clouds that let just enough light through to let our pictures be amazing, the umbrella that made for some awesome photographs, a lesson in knowing you can't plan for the weather, and the chance to always start the story of our wedding day with the words "Man, it was really raining hard the day we got married, but it didn't even matter".

Le sigh.