Letting Go of the Past to Stand Beside My Daughter on Her Wedding Day

Just minutes before the ceremony, a sound pierced the air—a cry that sent my heart racing. For one panicked second, I feared disaster. Had something gone wrong? Had she changed her mind?

I hurried toward her, my pulse quickening. What I found wasn’t a catastrophe but something every bride faces: nerves. Overwhelmed by the magnitude of the moment, my daughter trembled, her hands shaking as tears welled in her eyes.

Her bridesmaids offered words of comfort, patting her shoulders, but nothing seemed to ease her fear. It wasn’t until I took her hands into mine—steady, warm, familiar—that her breath began to slow.

“You don’t have to face this alone,” I whispered. “I’m here.”

The words were simple, yet they carried the weight of decades of motherhood—nights of soothing her tears, days of cheering her victories, years of loving her through every season. In that instant, every ounce of bitterness I had been holding onto seemed so small compared to the love that bound me to her.

The Walk Down the Aisle

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