Holy matrimony WiMi!

This past Saturday a majority of the Staples family gathered together once again....  However a week after laying my grandmother to rest we were together this time to witness and celebrate a more joyous occasion....  A Staples wedding.  My cousin Reginald and his fiance (now wife) Chazelle joined together in holy matrimony.  I think it was something we all needed as a family..   an uplifting event.

So I decided in lieu of taking a date to my cousin's wedding,  I would take WiMi.  Typically I wouldn't take a 2 yr old to a wedding... twins no less,  but this was a family wedding and I had checked with the bride and she said it was fine...  First, the Staples family is not place for the meek....  one has to be "prepared and prepped" for meeting my family...lol  just the same , I'm very particular in who I present to my family.  But most importantly... albeit the boys are just shy of 3 years old....  I wanted them to witness and be a part of what is considered one of the most important and significant events to happen in our family... a wedding.  If you know Staples you know that there is nothing more important than family...  of course a wedding is a statement that you are making a commitment and prepared to embark on that journey of starting, building and supporting a family. 


The beginning of a journey....

 Again my boys being too young to comprehend or understand....  There were certain parts of my cousin's vows that they had wrote to each other that resonated with me and I would've have like my boys to hear.  The bride(Chazelle) had said to my cousin that while she couldn't promise every day would be perfect.... or that there would never be disagreements or bad days.....  that my cousin would have her undying support and that she would NEVER give up on him or them"   What stuck with me mostly about my cousin Reginald's vows was the last part when he vowed "he'd lay down his life for her and their family"   That there is the epitome of a Staples man.  While these are vows that they wrote to each other, I think these are ideas that almost any marriage could follow and have a chance at success. 

Later on during my cousin Reginald's speech he thanked his parents ..my uncle Ray and aunt Marcie who I love dearly...  He talked about the sacrifices they made and the example they set in how a marriage works.  It reminded me of what part of our role is as parents....  to help set an example for our children so that they one day can successfully build and sustain their own family.  Right now my "challenge"  is that while being a single dad I can't necessarily set an example as to how a marriage works like my aunt and uncle did or as my own parents...  I can instill in them the importance of family, the role and duties of a father.  Even while not married... their mom and I can still work to try and display how parents work together and collaborate to nurture, support, and successfully raise a child and prepare them for the world.   


Another beautiful Staples family.. (I was in that wedding some 20 years ago)

 WiMi may not have had a clue what was going on yesterday... I don't know.  But one thing is for sure...  they were surrounded by family.   And to be surrounded by family is to be surrounded in love.  There's no question that WiMi is truly loved and appreciated...  two boys that are truly admired and the family is proud of as a whole.  Time and again after the wedding and last week after my grandmothers funeral,  many family members commended me on the job I'm doing with Wm and Michael.  That means a lot because again if you know my family well at all you would know the level of expectations one has bared upon them once conceiving a Staples child. There is no place for slackers,dead-beats, or do-nothings.   If you think I'm the father that I am today by chance, I am not.  I am from a pedigree of good fathers.... men who know and recognize there is nothing that takes precedence or that is paramount to family and the welfare of their  children.    Men who as my cousin said... "would lay down their lives...."  I'd be remiss to not say these men are successul because and ONLY because of the long line of great women...my aunts who give them their "undying support" and made the committment to family.

Well I don't know when the next Staples wedding will be....but I don't think WiMi can ever get too much of an experience like that.  I should also mention and commend them on how well behaved gentlemen they were for the ceremony and reception....as much as one could expect for two 2 yr olds. I couldn't have been more proud. Two weeks in a row they've been called upon to be gentlemen to the utmost and be on their best behavior and they've risen to the challenge.  Of course they have their threshold and it wasn't too long before the blazers were off and they were running around and had took over the place.  But that's My WiMi.

"Daddy.... which fork do I use again? " 

One last congrats to my dear cousin Reginald and Chazelle.  Wish you all nothing but happiness, a long life together and 4 sets of twins... lol

Thanks for reading

Dad-E