the spring formal

I'm with you, Pat! When my middle daughter was off to college, a dear friend invited me over for a party for all her friends with kids away at school. I was floored by all the long faces! Maybe it's because I did my

35 years of child-rearing, but I was thrilled to bits that my girls were grown up, had done well enough in high school to get scholarships to the colleges of their choice, and that they are all the kind of women that I want as a friend. And now my oldest daughter has proven to be a wonderful mother, too. If that's not worth a tear or two of joy, I don't know what is!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Pat > Well, for me it was mainly tears of joy .... that our boys had grown up

Oh. That makes sense. And generally, I'm not the type of cry from joy, so that explains why I never do that.

I on the other hand, burst into tears at the first sign of a joyful occasion...weddings, births, anniversaries, the National Anthem, Hallmark commercials, ....

I'm not sure why that is, and I really do try to prevent it, but the floods come anyway, always have. :-\ The only wedding I *didn't* cry at was my own!

Beverly

Mine's the only one I *did* cry at! And not much, even then. I just wanted my dad there, and this was the time it really hit that he was gone forever.

Kate, I sympathize. I cried at DD's wedding in 2004, and it wasn't only for joy at her marrying a fine man, but also regretting my DH wasn't there as well. He would have been overjoyed awith our new son-in-law.

Beverly

I'm lucky that Dad knew and approved of Alan, and always treated him like a member of the family. They had a lot of interests in common, and enough differences to keep the conversation lively! I never had to worry about leaving them in each other's company, for all that Alan was extremely shy when I first knew him.

I agree you are very lucky! My DH had little in common with our first son-in-law, aside from both loving Susan.

This new one though...he and DH would have really enjoyed long talks about restoring old cars, camping, etc. DD didn't meet him until almost two years after DH was killed. Made the wedding a very emotional day for both of us. I love my new SIL enough for two, so all is well. ;-)

Beverly

That bodes for a great future for you all. :)