Please bear with me today, I am totally crying as I write this.  Like, balling.  Good thing Kamran isn’t home to see this…

Anyway, with Mother’s Day coming up I’ve been thinking about my own wedding a little bit.  Yes, weddings are great and special, but we had a few wedding miracles having to do with the moms in our lives.  I’d like to take a moment here to just tell you about them in honor of our moms and grandmas.

First, is the happy miracle.  You may or may not know this, but Kamran’s parents live in a fairly inaccessible country in the Middle East.  When we decided to get married, Kamran hadn’t seen them in over two years, and they had never visited his home in the U.S.  I, in fact, had only ever met them on skype.  We hatched a plan that involved us getting travel visas for Kamran’s parents so they could come to the wedding.  You cannot imagine how long this took and how much anxiety we went through not knowing if they would even be able to come.  On top of that, we made our families wait to set a date until we had some idea if and when they would be able to come.

Basically what happens is that you submit an application, wait.  Re-submit the application.  Wait some more.  Months pass by.  And then, miracle!  They get an interview!  BUT, they have to go to Turkey for the interview because there is no US Embassy in Iran.  So we went into high gear, finding a venue and setting a date so that they could have an actual wedding invitation to show at the interview.  Then you wait some more.  Kamran’s parents flew to Turkey AGAIN to pick up the visas.

Basically, we didn’t know if Kamran’s parents would make it  to our wedding until they landed in Chicago, less than a week before the wedding date.  But they made it.  Kamran’s uncles flew in from Canada, and we pretty much felt like the luckiest people in the world.  But really, Kamran’s parents went through so much just to get here.

Kamrans parents, my parents, and us, having our very own wedding miracle (photo by Karl Dettman of Capital Photography):

Kamran and his mom in Oak Park:

The other part of my story is about my grandmother, Eleanor.  Grandma Ellie was the kind of woman who left an impression on everybody she  met.  She was witty and silly, always cracking jokes, and loving and doting and strong.  She taught me how to cook and crochet, and when I would visit her as a child she would help me make dresses for my  dolls.  She could play piano by ear, but always asked to hear me play.  She made pudding every time we visited, and always had a huge stash of candy in the pantry.

When I called Grandma to tell her I was getting married, I was a little nervous.  You see, Kamran and I got married in a small civil ceremony last winter before we had our more formal reception in October.  Basically, we decided to do it, and held the wedding 2 weeks later.  I was sure my family would think I was crazy.  But I called Grandma, and she said, “I’ve still got you beat.  I got married 4 days after I got engaged.”  Grandma and Grandpa were together almost 60 years before she passed.

Grandma’s health had been declining for some time, and we weren’t sure she would even make it to the wedding.  But she wouldn’t miss it.

This photo is very special to me.   As part of our ceremony we did a “ring warming,” where we passed the rings around the room and asked those gathered to give us a blessing as the rings passed.  This is my grandma Eleanor and Grandpa George with our rings:

Grandma Eleanor passed away just two months after our wedding.  I miss her very much.  Happy Mothers Day, Grandma.