The sweetest dance of all, for us, came on April 2, 2016 at a tiny church filled with grace and love in Keystone, Nebraska. Nervous energy had filled our morning and had us both wondering why we didn’t set the time for 7AM. Friends and family gathered in the warm sunshine under the blue sky, and the winds from the day before had calmed. The guitars were tuned, the singers practiced, our Scottish-Irish pastor walked us through the ceremony; we were ready.

Walking in together, the man I’ve come to know, love and cherish took my arm and we walked down that aisle built in 1908. Standing before the Padre, we vowed to love, honor, respect, cherish, encourage, inspire, and give each other our most tender care forever. We promised to shelter each other’s hearts and to hold each other as home. We prayed and we enclosed each other in the ring symbols, blessed by God. We sang each other the song in our heart and, hand-in-hand we entered our lives as husband and wife.

After congratulations, smiles and hugs, we left our guests to depart for the supper and dancing while we took a quiet moment to gather ourselves, lock the church door, return the key, and come back into the joy of celebration with so many loving friends and family. We danced and we talked and we received so much happiness-our two families joining as well. We visited late into the evening and then exhausted, talked late into the night together. Sleeping in those arms I know as home, our hearts, minds, and souls know how blessed we are, each to have the other.