I went ring shopping for my girlfriend’s grandma.

Well, it wasn’t for her grandma,
it was for her and I,
and yet I have
her grandma to thank.

Life is so cruel
because I just wanted
her to see us marry and
yet cancer was the reason
I knew I needed to buy a ring.

I thought maybe God would see
us ring shopping and decide that
our love was enough to
scoop her grandma into his hands,
but obviously life isn’t quite that kind.

But the wedding is near
and the cancer is knocking
on the door that I wish would stay
open forever.

Except, if you were to ask me,
the real wedding happened
on the day I asked
my girlfriend’s grandma for
permission to spend the
rest of our lives together.

Tears were shed and hugs ensued
and if that isn’t at the
heart of matrimony
then I don’t know what is.

But that simple question
to my girlfriend’s grandma,
and the even simpler
yes, of course
she answered, left me a
married woman that day.

I see her now
in dragonfly wings,
hear her whisper of approval
and laughter in the silence they create.
There will never be a time
I will see a dragonfly
and not believe she is
stopping by to say hello.

So when I walk down
the aisle, and my fiancée’s
grandma has an empty seat at the altar,

I know the wedding
has already happened,
and that my wife’s grandma
was there to pick out the ring.