Step Two

Okay, I admit it. I was bawling before he even kissed the bride. I was watching my gorgeous son who was so grown up standing there waiting for the love of his life, and the anticipation on his face was almost tangible. He was right where he wanted to be. My tears were only partly for myself, for my loss—they were mostly tears of joy for Antoine and for Lauren, who are so beautiful together. The old cliche is true: I haven't lost a son, I've gained a daughter.

The day started off pretty rough, though. Besides waking up to rain (which we hadn't had for weeks) and the stress of anticipating how the evening would go, I got a phone call from Antoine about four hours before the wedding telling me he had just gotten in an accident. I was there in three minutes and found Antoine crying at the side of the road with his new car totaled. Praise God that he walked away without a scratch.

Antoine is blessed with lots of mothers in his life ... and we were all there together at his wedding. There was me, his birth mom, his step-mom, his foster mom, and his mother-in-law all fussing over him. But the most important mother in his life is the soon-to-be mother of his children: Lauren. I couldn't be more pleased to hand him over to someone as precious as she.