Lynn stared at her reflection in the mirror one more time. The cream colored satin Rock-a-Billy style dress did its best to accentuate the positives of a body that had seen and given life. Her red hair that was freshly dyed to cover the greys that came with that life was pulled back from her surprisingly youthful face into a ponytail laced with baby's breath and white roses.
"Mom, quit worrying. You look beautiful," whispered her oldest daughter as she wrapped arms about her from behind.
In the mirror, Lynn stared into the face of a younger, more beautiful version of herself. This woman was everything she was not. Steady, confident and self-assured. Everything that Lynn had created her to be. A woman of steel that her mother's mistakes had forged her into the fires of love, laughter and life. Lynn felt the tears gathering in the corner of her eyes.
"Stop it Mom. You are going to ruin your make-up. It's a wonder we even got you into any at all. We don't need to have to go through all that again because you have huge black steaks running down your face." She matched actions to words, turning Lynn around to face her and dabbing at the corners of her mother's eyes with a tissue.
Another set of fingers laced through her own and gave a gentle squeeze. She greeted the gaze of another beautiful and strong woman: her daughter-in-law. Her tummy bulged and seemed to actually move beneath her dress with the same life that Lynn had brought into this world. But she knew that her son and this magnificent creature would do so much better a job than she ever had with her first grandchild. "Oh, Mama," she chided as she shook her head.
"Gees, Mom, you would think this is your first time to do this and not your third," said the petulant teen sprawled across the chair in the corner with her iPad close at hand.
Her older sister poked the girl in the shoulder, but ever the honest person that Lynn raised her children to be her youngest daughter stood her ground. "What? It's true, ain't it."
And that was the crux of the matter. Her baby girl always seemed to have a way of stripping all the layers of polite society to the very beating and throbbing heart of the matter...bloody though it was. Lynn loved all her children. She loved all children period. But there was something special about this final precious gift of the goddess that had taught more about life and love than any of her other children had.
The slow and familiar melody began to drift into the room. It was the signal they had been waiting for. Her girls surrounded her and led her to the door where her beloved son waited to take her hand. She knew that she was fighting a losing battle against the water works and her daughter must have too because she pressed a handful tissue into Lynn's hand along the bouquet of roses. "You just better have gotten your aim right, Mama. Or I'm gonna cutta bitch and I'd hate to get that dress all bloody and send you to the hospital on your wedding night. Besides how many times do I have to tell you, Mama, you are not a pretty crier."
Lynn laughed as the four women formed a circle of love, a girly group hug, Lynn knew one thing: she might have shitty taste in men, but damn did she have amazing children.
As if reading her mother's mine, the youngest voice of reason, the soul that was born old, shoved her mother through the door to her waiting brother, "Quit worrying, Mommy. This time we choose him for you. And we gots good taste in men."
Her son, who had stood at the other end of what seemed like an endless path, less than a year before, tucked her hand into the fold of his arm as his wife heavy with child snuck up the aisle to take her seat. Her daughters preceded her slowly up that path of non-descript reddish-brownish-orange carpet towards the front of the chapel where Elvis Presley stood holding a Bible in one hand and a microphone in the other as he belted out the words to his most famous song...Love Me Tender.
