Thirteen years ago today my daughter Julia was married in the Mesa Arizona temple. She looked lovely and was so happy. There was a lot of external drama that day but she was so focused on beginning a long life with her husband that it didn't really upset her. Some of it: she sprained her ankle arriving in Phoenix, father-in-law was in ER during the ceremony, she had a hypoglycemic reaction to not eating before the wedding, their cake topper was too heavy for the cake and collapsed...just the usual trivial details on an important day. While they were on their honeymoon in Paris (France, not Idaho), their luggage took three days to arrive and BOTH of their fathers had heart attacks. I know they were concerned but there was nothing they could do from that distance, except pray for their dads.
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| They look tall, don't they? Julia was almost six feet tall and Brent is 6'10"! |
This photo was taken after their honeymoon when they drove to Billings Montana for a second wedding reception. Her hair is different because she cut it between the wedding day and the reception. I liked it better this way.
Mesa seemed like an unusual place for their wedding because at the time Julia lived in Reno, Brent had been living in California, I was teaching in Billings, Neal was working in Seattle, and Julia's little sister was in Salt Lake. All of those places had temples. But Brent's family is much larger than ours and the majority of them lived in Arizona so it was easier for the few of us to go where all of them lived.
They bought a home in Reno and Julia taught government and French at Hug High School.
In December 2006 Julia and Brent planned to spend Christmas in Arizona but she had been coughing a lot and thought she might have pneumonia again. She went to the ER to find out, they took Xrays and found a mass in her lung. Yes she had pneumonia but she also had cancer: non-smokers' lung cancer. Their plans and hopes changed overnight.
Julia went Home May 27, 2008.
They didn't have very many years together but I take comfort in knowing that they will be together again. Their temple marriage sealed them for time and all eternity.
1 comment:
How I miss Julia! Sometimes I see some one who looks like her, and I get a lift in my heart - then I realize that it could not be her, and I just feel a little empty for a minute or two. I know she is happy and well, that she is busy with good things, that she knows all about the people she loves, and still cares for. I know all of this....but I still miss her.
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