For Kendra, on Your Wedding Day
21 May 2016
In years past
So many times I envied you
For far more than that
pristine innocence
That prompted you to cover
your eyes before the world’s brutality.
You were surrounded by forest and playmates
Owner of horses, homeschooled on a hilltop with mountain
vistas,
An epic playroom in your basement filled with desirable toys.
Even your appearance was cause for longing,
Your abundant golden hair was streaked with natural
highlights to glimmer in the sun like a true princess.
But I loved you too much to be bitter.
You were too good to dislike
Instead you were a role model to emulate.
You set the bar so high one has to jump to catch and lift
A pull-up to success
There you stand like in the tree-climbing of years past
Barefoot in the summer woods
When you had pulled yourself onto that risky upper limb to a
better view
A place where some of us, where I, feared to go.
And so, dauntless you grew and departed your childhood home
for college far away
To study anatomy and physiology and uncover your eyes at the
world’s brutality.
Intrepid you trained and conquered marathons around the
country.
Bold you joined a team in Ecuador to traipse volcanoes and
heal strangers.
Tireless you aided in nursing homes patients bedridden by mind
and body.
With that unceasing kindness and iron runner’s strength you
cared for the lost, the weak, and the lesser.
Two years ago our grandfather died.
In the last days you helped care for him as only a nurse can.
While most of us stood helpless, staring at the
insignificant rise of his chest and wondering if our words permeated his fading
consciousness,
You lifted him, put balm on his sores, read poetry, and sang
hymns with your siblings.
At the Memorial Service you stood up before the crowd to
read a letter you’d written.
Through your tears we heard you
Your wish to do him proud, to deserve the title of
Granddaughter
Progeny of a small-town hero.
I doubt anyone doubted you’d done him proud already.
Many times you’ve cited your imperfections
Cautioned [me] against placing you on a pedestal,
While you’re only blundering through life like all of us.
But my dear Kendra, you’ve never appeared a blunderer.
All I’ve seen is grace
Grace under pressure
Grace under sweat, disappointment, restriction.
You’ve had your heart broken and dreams crushed, like us all.
But your response has been as high as that bar, that
out-of-reach limb on the climbing tree.
Most of us are too timid to leap,
To trust that spurious limb to hold us.
We miss viewing the world from a higher place,
But we see you there, standing with easy grace.
All these years I’ve seen Jesus walking with you, lending
that seeming easy grace
Inspiring you to inspire others with the effulgent light of
your ridiculously dimpled smile and full-bodied laugh.
Your sky blue eyes twinkle with the warm-hearted mirth that
mocks self before others.
Just like Grampie.
You said in that half-choked letter that you’d always hoped Grampie
would be at your wedding
That there would be a pair of beaming grandparents watching
one of their great legacy start new life.
Well, perhaps he won’t be visible beside Grammie, slightly
uncomfortable in jacket and tie, eyes still twinkling with delight,
But I have no doubt he’ll be there
Beaming with joy at this first granddaughter’s wedding.
You wanted to do him proud
Oh my dear Kendra, you do him proud every day.
And his Father, too.
They watch from a distance
(So will I)
Seeing you begin your new life with easy grace, princess
hair, and ridiculously dimpled smile.
Thank you for setting the bar so high, for reaching that
risky limb,
So we might never settle for less than what makes our Hero
proud
In years to come. 
