A Soggy but Special Day

Today started 19 years ago (if I remember correctly). Long day, huh? I was hanging out in my classroom at Penn View Christian Academy on Registration Day, in between meeting parents and students, when an adventuresome little fella toddled through the doorway. Not knowing him or his parents but feeling rather certain they weren't far away and would be looking for him shortly, I struck up a conversation of sorts with him to keep him in one place until they would find him. Greg was so delightful that I was disappointed when I heard his frantic mother say, "Oh, there he is!" a couple minutes later. In those few moments, he stole my heart!

Whenever Mommy came to school for some reason, he always had to visit "Miss Cooley." He was so cute, so loving, so talkative, so funny without trying to be funny, so "little man," so disciplined that he was the highlight of my day every time he walked into my classroom. Truthfully, I thought Mommy (and, of course, Greg) should come to school more often!

By the time I was planning a wedding, I had only one name in my mind for a Bible-bearer: Greg. I was pleased as punch when Mommy & Daddy gave their permission. Mommy schooled him about what he was to do, and he was ready for the big day. He protested a little bit about donning his gray tuxedo, however, because he was certain that a Bible bear ought to wear a brown, fuzzy suit!

When Mommy had him completely attired, she set him on a chair in the nursery with strict instructions to sit still right there until Miss Cooley told him to get up. He sat so still he fell asleep and almost fell off the chair several times!

He did a perfect job of being a "Bible bear."

At attention.

Looks like he fell asleep on his feet!

Listening intently to my brother's exhortation about marriage. (The flowergirls and Bible bearers sat on the steps throughout the wedding so they wouldn't get too fidgety.)

After the wedding, we lived in Baltimore, MD, for five years and visited my family in PA quite often. While visiting, we attended various events at the school, so we saw Greg from time to time. After we moved to TN 11 years ago, however, we only visited once, or sometimes twice, a year, usually at Christmas or in the summer. As a result, we didn't see Greg for several years. Were we ever shocked when we met my brother Andy in his bus in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge and discovered that Greg was part of the high school senior class who had chartered the bus! (I just knew he must have skipped several grades... but he hadn't!) We were so proud of him for becoming such a wonderful Christian young man.

In college, he was chosen to be part of "Majesty," a PR team for Penn View. We have tried to attend at least one service each summer where he is. We were delighted to learn that this summer he would be at our own church!

...which brings me to today. We woke up this morning to rain so intense it had me thinking Noah. (While I was drying my hair I said to Ken, "Why am I doing this?!") By the time we had loaded the car with several bags and a hot crock pot with foods for the pitch-in dinner after the service, not even our big umbrella had done a very good job of keeping us dry--Ken was so drenched he opted to come back inside to change clothes. So, we arrived a bit late, and the church was full except for a seat here and there and the first two rows on the left side. Embarrassed as we were, we "slipped" into the second row.

Majesty did a wonderful job and were a blessing! We enjoyed them so much. Of course, we had perfect seats from which to enjoy them!

After the service and during the pitch-in, we had a few minutes to talk with Greg. Interestingly, he taught music lessons at the same school my nephew and his wife worked at last year. We can hardly believe he starts his college senior year this fall. He will likely not be giving music lessons this year as he has a very full academic load and will also be choir accompanist.

After graduation, he plans to marry on June 12. I asked him if he remembered that our wedding date was June 13. He said he knew it was somewhere around that but didn't remember exactly. They had actually initially chosen June 13, but changed to June 12 because they would like an evening, candlelight wedding. So cool, tho, that his date will be so close to ours!

Yep, he was the highlight of our day.