Jones/Bruce Endeavor

It's always pretty cool to just "randomly" be a part of someone's wedding day, even if it is from behind a camera. There's something unique at every wedding - good or bad. I have been fortunate and blessed that all of my experiences have been good.

Even though the routine is always the same (depending on the culture and religion), "the moment" in each one changes. My perspective at every wedding is usually as a Dad, since that is now the greatest part of my life. This time, I caught a glimpse of the connection between a Mother and her Son, and it was so close, yet so far away from what I feel when I watch a Father walk his girl down the aisle and dance with her at the reception.

There's something special between a little girl and her Dad, but for the first time, I feel like I got to watch this unfold through the eyes of the Groom's Mom.

I felt like I had just watched a bird get dropped from the nest. Mom didn't really cry, but Son sure did. For that second I realized that the switch wasn't from boy to man, it was from having safety and security - to providing it. It's the realization that things change, and the Son you once held is holding someone else. The ingredients of motherhood obviously include some pain, most of which is kept at bay, and private. In 3 minutes, I watched a grown man go through nostalgia, comfort, fear and a recognition that there is now officially a past, present and future. Mom just smiled right through it, sure to deal with her own realizations, alone with God, later that night.

Moms really are silent heroes, and the truth is that every day is Mother's Day.

Congratulations to Haley and Kyle, you share a special bond. You know who yourselves are, and you know who you married. You'll realize how great that is in 5 years.

Allen Mullins