CAROLINE'S POV
Before my wedding, there had been a fuss about who would walk me down the aisle. The father of the bride traditionally does it, but that was obviously not going to happen. Names had been thrown around, Scott could do it, Austin could do it, my fiancee's dad could do it, even Taylor's name was mentioned. But I shot all the suggestions down. So now, on my wedding day, I was standing alone as my bridesmaids and groomsmen stood in front of me, all waiting to participate in the processional and walk to the front of the aisle.
As the processional music sounded through the small church in which my fiancee and I had chosen to have our wedding, our flower girl was told to begin walking down the aisle. Our flower girl was my five year old sister, Jordyn.
Jordyn's white dress contrasted with her dark skin and curly black hair as she slowly proceeded down the aisle throwing flower petals. As she walked I was reminded of when I first met her. Karlie and Taylor had gotten married the summer after my freshman year of college and almost exactly a year after their wedding and after a long waiting period, they were finally approved to adopt Jordyn from an orphanage in Ethiopia. I traveled to Africa with them that summer to meet my baby sister, she was just a year old when we brought her home and we all quickly fell in love with her chocolate brown eyes. Jordyn was probably the luckiest little girl in the world, Taylor and Karlie had proven to be great mothers yet again, something I already knew.
Once Jordyn got to the front of the church, the bridesmaids and groomsmen started proceeding down the aisle. Most of my bridesmaids were friends I met in college at Vanderbilt. My four years at Vanderbilt were amazing. Nursing school was challenging, but proved to be worth it now that I was a registered nurse.
Finally, my two maids of honor, Grace and Kelsey, started down the aisle with my fiancee's two brothers as the best men. Grace, Kelsey, and I had remained best friends throughout the years. When my fiancée couldn't decide which brother he wanted to be his best man, I suggested he have two and this gave me the opportunity to have both Grace and Kelsey as my maids of honor.
Once the whole wedding party was at the front of the church and it was my turn to walk, I had a clear view of my future husband.
Some psychologists say that girls tend to marry people similar to their fathers. Maybe that was why a soldier in his dress uniform was waiting for me with tears in his eyes at the end of the aisle.
I proceeded slowly down the aisle with all eyes on me. I couldn't help but think about when my fiancée Joel and I first met. My first job out of college was as a registered nurse at a Wounded Warrior Project facility here in Nashville. Joel was my first patient on my first day. He was around my age and he had lost his left leg below the knee while serving overseas a year and a half prior. He was still relearning how to walk with a prosthetic.
Joel was very charming and after about a week as his nurse he requested a new one so he could take me out on a date. Needless to say, it worked out. Now, two years later, I was smiling at him in my wedding dress.
As I neared the front of the church I looked over at Taylor who was sitting in the front row looking back at me with tears in her eyes. So much had changed in her life since I was in high school, but our mother daughter bond hadn't. Karlie was sitting beside Taylor sporting similar waterworks.
I had been Taylor's maid of honor just five short years ago when she married Karlie. Now they had moved out to the suburbs of Nashville to raise Jordyn. I wasn't allowed to talk about it with anyone yet, but they were planning to travel back to Ethiopia soon to adopt a little boy and Joel and I were invited to go with. Taylor had also passed our old penthouse apartment onto me and Joel. We moved in a few months ago after we had redecorated and done some renovations, now it felt like it was our own. I gave Taylor and Karlie small smiles before reaching the front of the church and turning to face my almost-husband.
Joel smiled at me through teary eyes and I was caught up in how amazing my life turned out to be. I was marrying a man with a loving heart and a great sense of humor in spite of everything he has been through, in fact, he had been pulling for our wedding theme to be 'two hearts, three legs'. I also knew that my biological parents were watching over me today as I had just opened a nearly 20 year old letter from my mom that said 'open on your wedding day'. Taylor was the happiest she'd ever been and her and Karlie were finally giving me siblings- I couldn't wait to see where a few more years took our family.
But most importantly, I was surrounded by people I loved, marrying the man I loved, and I was at absolute peace with myself. There was nothing I would change about my life, not everything was perfect, but I'd learned that that was what made life worth living.
