As I sit here in the Chicago Midway Airport waiting for my flight after a fast paced and emotion filled weekend, I am left thinking about my time here as I watched my life-long best friend marry the man that will be her new life-long best friend. 

My emotions and thoughts are going in a hundred different directions as I remember the events that brought Marcy and I together, the joys and struggles we have faced together throughout our lives, and watching her embracing her new found life with Anton. 

Marcy and I met sometime around 1999-2000. One of my very first memories of her was at our home church in Okeechobee, Florida. Her mother had just passed away and my mom told me a little bit about what had happened and who Marcy was. Marcy was the youngest of 3 and soon after the passing of her mother, she moved in with her Aunt and Uncle- my parent’s best friends. Just a mere two years later, her father also tragically passed away and her Aunt and Uncle took the role of full-time parents in Marcy’s life. We spent a lot of time together after that.
The way Marcy summed it up this weekend was ” Mine and Abigail’s parents just half raised us together.” ha. That was a pretty good summation of our friendship. 

We went on family vacations together, we were allowed to just walk into one another’s homes with out being that annoying person that randomly shows up unwanted, and we watched each other face the trials of life. Some of those trials almost tore us apart. I was always the one who tested my limits and rarely tried to hide that. What you see is usually what you get with me. Marcy is the opposite of me in many ways. She is quiet and timid but with a great ferocity underneath that most underestimate. 

During my roughest stages of life- I had faced a lot of judgement and cruel words from those who were closest to me and that caused me to push almost everyone away. I ran as far in the opposite direction of what I knew as I could. This put a major strain on mine and Marcy’s friendship. 

At some point in my life I finally came to terms with a lot of what I was holding onto in the deep dark crevices of my heart. I faced the fear of rejection and judgment and I wrote Marcy a letter, who at that point was attending The Moody Bible Institute here in Chicago, which is where she met Anton. Marcy had also reconciled with a lot of her own demons and was ready to take a step back toward our friendship. She was with me when I met a biological sibling of mine for the first time ever and then after that we didn’t really speak much and drifted away again- mostly due to life being busy and thousands of miles separating us. 

I eventually found myself pregnant out of wedlock and feeling lost and alone. When I feel like this, my natural instinct is to run as far as I can and keep my walls up. She found out about Chloe over Facebook and between that and my own bitterness, we pushed one another even farther away. Kyle and I got engaged when I was 7 months pregnant and I had left Marcy out of the wedding party. I tried to convince myself that I was fine with that. I hadn’t really talked to her in years, we claimed the title of best friends but never acted like it, and I didn’t need her there if she didn’t want to be.

A couple of months before the wedding, I found myself being unable to shake the guilt I was feeling, knowing that there was no way that I could ever do this without her by my side. I wrote another letter basically writing everything I just wrote here and I asked her to join my wedding party and be there beside me even though it had been such a long time since our friendship had been open and vulnerable. We moved our wedding date up just so that she could be able to attend.(I don’t think she even ever knew that until now.)  I just knew that if she wasn’t there with me I would regret it in the years to follow. I am so glad that she was there with me and was willing to hold my hand and walk through one of my darkest moments with me. (There is SO much more to my own story that I will share one day.)

After my wedding, things stayed distant but good. We had gotten back to a solid foundation and I knew that if I ever needed her, she’d be there & vice versa. 

She met Anton in college during all of this craziness & I pretty quickly knew that it was the real deal because I had seen all of the other guys she’d been interested in and none of them could ever compare to the way that Anton loved and respected Marcy & her family. 

Fun fact- Anton is also 5 years YOUNGER than Marcy! You’d never know it though because they are so compatible and he is so much more mature (mostly) than any other guy his age. 

This weekend, I met Anton in person for the first time and I immediately felt like I had known him, his family, and his friends for as long as I had known Marcy. That’s a pretty good sign if you ask me. 

Anton has provided Marcy with stability, security, love, grace, forgiveness, and freedom. She flourishes with him. She radiates joy in a way that I have never seen. And to top it off, she isn’t naive about the hardships of marriage and life. She and Anton FEEL the love they have but they also CHOOSE to love when the feelings fade. 

I am so proud, so thankful, so grateful, for all that Marcy is to me and for all that Anton is to her. 

Most importantly, 
I am thankful that God has given them a solid foundation and genuine love or Him together as a couple and that they use their gifts and their marriage as a way to minister to everyone around them. 

Marcy Ashley, may you always know that there is a bed for you to have endless sleepovers in, a device to play ridiculous emo music on, and a friend to harmonize to every word with in me. But, I am pretty sure Anton can do all that too. 😉 

I love you both more than I could ever verbalize. 
HAPPY HONEYMOONING! 
-Abigail Rebekah

//Vendors//
Venue: Western Springs Baptist Church
Floral Design: Rachel Naffziger
Catering: Taste Of Home Catering, Hinsdale, IL
Desserts: Julie Molina
Decor: Marcy, Various Family & Friends
Wedding Gown: Meringue Vintage (A Vintage Dress from the 1970’s!) 
Stationary: Zazzle.com