My Person of The Year

MY PERSON OF THE YEAR

My person of the year is someone I know very well and therefore can be quite authoritative on.  It is, in fact, my daughter. I am biased, you might say, but hear me out first.  As a matter of fact, I am not one of those parents who loudly sing their children’s praises and heretofore there were even complaints that I did not swing my babies in the air and revel in them as other fathers did.

Her wedding day was a day to remember for the rest of our lives.  It was a glorious July day; sunny, happy, exciting and meaningful. She married her teenage sweetheart in a beautiful ceremony in the church where she had made her first communion.  The setting was perfect, up on a hill, in the rich, green heartland of Kilbride, County Meath.  Everything went off so well, the morning preparations, the church ceremony, the photographs, the reception, the speeches and the party afterwards in Barberstown Castle, a historic building, bursting with character, situated on the sweeping plains of lush Kildare.

These events don’t happen by chance.  I mean how everything went off so perfectly, not the marriage itself, of course.  That had been on the cards for years and indeed the intended groom had asked my permission in a most respectful way, me being the father of the prospective bride.  He had agreed to wait until she finished her studies as I had insisted on.  He is a fine gentleman, a hard worker and a sportsman too, which helped greatly (with me).  Both were young to marry, by today’s standards, but not as young as my wife who was only 19 when I whisked her to the altar, within a year of meeting her and that was 36 years ago.  She still sticks with me but that is another story.

My daughter had been preparing for her big day for over a year, if not more.  She was constantly on the internet; on wedding sites, shopping sites, surfing, emailing, researching, checking and doing a million other interactions I did not really attend to or keep up with.  Besides organising the whole event; buying the clothes, and not just for the happy pair, but for maids of honour, best men and even fathers, she also, with her “intended”, sourced the beautiful car (a blue Bentley) the flowers, the cakes, the make-up people, the hairdressers, the venue for the reception, the invitations, the mass books, the priest and made a myriad of other choices I only learned about later.  During all this time, her first bridesmaid, my other older daughter, was unable to do very much to help, as she was in Australia and only arrived home with her young man a fortnight before the wedding.  Such excitement there was, and it started the build-up to the wedding itself, amid a frenzy of parties and get-togethers which we all will ever remember. 

On the day itself she was brilliant; calm, ecstatic, prepared, organised (and organising every one else, including my wife and myself).  She was also radiantly beautiful, of course and I have photographs to prove it.   Her dress had been bought a year earlier and had caused her some worry a week previously, but my wife had done a brilliant job on it and it displayed and enhanced her perfectly.  She made me perform too, like making breakfast for all the young girls and ladies running around getting showered, dressed, getting made-up and coiffed as well as downing champagne and having a laugh; and she gave us all specially prepared gifts on the day.  The journey to the church with her a pleasure, she was so delighted about her wedding and also lovingly affectionate with me, a crusty member of the stiffly, unemotional, non-demonstrative males of our land.  All her friends were at the church and both our families, all alive and well.  The ceremony was relaxed and joyful and made memorable by many incidents, not least the two young grandchildren, one of whom strayed onto the altar and stayed underneath if for some time gesturing to her parents to be quiet.  At the reception she made her own speech, as did my wife and my other daughter, the bridesmaid.  Strong women they are, but they did allow some of us to speak also.

Now my daughter is going on a round-the-world trip with her new husband in November.  She only finished and attained her higher degree two months before the wedding while working part-time for the last year, as a relief member of staff in various residential care centres.  Herself and her husband have saved and paid for almost everything, including the wedding and the world tour.  Her joy in life, care for others, spiritual nature, organisational skills, positivity and “can do” attitude is a wonder to behold and wins her my personal “Person of the Year” award.