A Daddy's Wish, A Daughter's Love

“I won’t have the wedding without you, Dad”. “Don’t worry, Bonnie, I’ll be there”. A recent exchange between Bonnie and Louie revealed that the wonderful wedding that Bonnie had carefully planned might now conflict with the opportunity for Louie to have the long awaited surgery to reconnect his intestines. This surgery combined with the skill of a plastic surgeon to cover and protect the intestines would be very serious. Recovery time could be extensive. This was the opportunity for her dad to eat regularly, eliminate the leaking bag, and possibly move forward to a new “normal” in his life. She \planned the wedding so far out with a 14 month engagement only to have the surgery now appear to collide with the wedding . Bonnie, however, never looked back in her joyous encouragement to have the surgery as soon as possible. There were worries about whether dad would be recovered enough to attend the June 25th wedding. If complications occurred she could not fathom having the wedding without him there. No, answers, no promises… Hospital stays can be unpredictable as we learned in the past. Uncharted territory can sometimes have roadblocks. ….Bonnie , with Michael’s blessing started a ball rolling that took her entire June 25th wedding --church, civic center, caterer , florist, photographer etc. etc EVERY DETAIL to early May. She literally “picked up” the whole wedding and moved to a week before the surgery. Truly God had a hand in this.
In summary, on May 7th, 2011, Louie will proudly walk Bonnie down the aisle of St. Philip Church to marry Michael Kaspar. It will be a joyous and proud moment as we are surrounded by family and friends. I have learned much from this experience---Life doesn’t always conform to our carefully planned agenda, however, with God anything is possible.  Most of all I’ve learned that the most precious gift doesn’t come wrapped in shiny paper.There may be no beautiful bow or glittery ribbon. You might not even be able to unwrap the tissue and tape. Why? Because sometimes the most precious gift is the gift of love.