The Bride.....

These are my friends Barbara and Kit.  Barbara is the one in the middle.  Yes, the picture is awful but that is what happens when you pluck a random person off of the sidewalk and ask them to take a picture with your phone.  

I met Barbara about a year ago at church and we became instant friends.  She could be instant friends with anyone. That is just the kind of person she is.  Barbara is twelve years my senior but she has more energy than someone twelve years my junior.  We work together in the kitchen at church and she always makes every endeavor fun....she is just merry!

And speaking of merry...that is why we are out together.  She is going to MARRY again.  She lost her husband six years ago.  Her fiance lost his wife five years ago.  She told us that fiance sounds a little ominous when you are 78!  Barbara and Doug have gone to church together for about 15 years, they even went to the same mass but never knew each other until about three years ago.  They met and became instant companions.  Let's face it being alone when you are old is not fun.  Their companionship grew stronger and in two weeks they will wed with the complete approval of both of their families.  

Doug just sold his house and has moved in with Barbara...but make no mistake they are not living in sin as she says.  That comes after the wedding!  As she tells it, she almost fell out of bed the first night he was there because she slept so close to the edge!  That is why you have to love Barbara!  

She is the epitome of the old school Catholic!  

When they wed, they will walk to the church columbarium together and place flowers in front of the niche of each of their spouses.....as fate would have it their spouses are interred only five spaces apart.  I am quite certain they will have their complete blessings.  

I love this story, just like I love Barbara.  It is a gift that you love someone and miss them so much you do not want to be alone.  I think it is a tribute to the spouse that passed.  

I again think these ladies came into my life for a reason.  They both are at such peace with everything in their lives.  I have seen in both of them God's plan at work and his plan is not always what our plan may be...that is the beauty of faith.