A Lasting Legacy

I tried to keep my camera in the bag. I really did.

My sister, Lisa, and her husband, Kyle, were paying a pro to document this momentous occasion as my niece, Abby, traded her five-letter last name - Bauer - for her new 11-letter moniker - Stockebrand.

But I couldn't resist just a few. And when I looked at the photos this morning, I was struck by something. Framing the scene as Abby and Derek took their vows in the Clay Center United Methodist Church were my parents' shoulders - my mom's in pink and my dad's in gray.

My parents took their vows in the Byers United Methodist Church nearly 59 years ago.

Janis & Bob Moore - August 1953 - Byers UMC

During Abby & Derek's reception, the DJ had all the married couples come to the dance floor. As the music played, he would announce: "All the married couples married less than one day, please leave the dance floor."

This young couple just happened to be the first ones to leave.

"Everyone who has been married less than 1 year, please sit down," he announced.

Then 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55 ...

And my parents were still dancing.

My family provided the first couple to leave the floor. And the last.

I didn't get a photo of my parents because I was holding my sleeping granddaughter as my daughter and son-in-law danced. I hope the professional photographer did. But, if not, I'll still remember it. And I hope it made an impression on all the grandchildren - not just the newlyweds who opened the doors of a church on Saturday as single people and left as a married couple - but on all of them.

It's a legacy to aspire to long after the cake is cut and the twinkling lights have been packed away.

And I loved another tradition during the reception. Abby was serenaded by the FarmHouse fraternity men, who sang, "A FarmHouse Girl."

As my sister said, the first FarmHouse guy in our family, our Grandpa Shelby Neelly, would have been pleased as current FH men and generations of guys from both Abby's and Derek's family serenaded the new bride.

Even trading simple five-letter last names to 11-letter ones is not without precedence in our family. I did it 31 years ago. So, Abby, welcome to life with a complicated last name, complete with an "E" in the middle - just like mine.

It's totally worth it.

***

An update: My sister, Darci, got a photo during the married couples' dance. So, here are my Mom and Dad on the dance floor.