We spent the second part of our April R&R to the United States from Burma (Myanmar) in the state of Georgia attending the wedding festivities of my eldest stepdaughter, A.
The wedding had been planned for a relatively long time. At only 27, A and her partner B had already been together since 2018 and engaged since 2024. It probably would have been easier for us had they decided to wed in the late summertime, after our tour in Burma ended. However, a spring wedding in Georgia was better aligned with their wishes (and who wants to be outside in the south during late summer!?), so we were happy to make the trip.
As someone who didn’t get married myself until my mid-thirties, I certainly do not subscribe to the notion that a person is not a “real” adult until they marry. By the time your children are in their twenties and need only occasional guidance or support, it’s already clear that your role as a parent has shifted. You’re no longer raising them day to day; instead, you become a trusted advisor and enthusiastic supporter as they build lives of their own.
I’ve known A since she was seven years old. Two decades later, she has finished high school, interned and traveled overseas, earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees, and launched a professional career.
As a non-custodial stepmother who rarely got to see my stepdaughters, D and A, during their high school years while we were living overseas, it has been deeply gratifying to renew our connections as they’ve grown into young adults and to become a trusted bonus person in their lives. I am proud of them and happy about the relationships we’ve been able to forge, despite it not always being easy to have — or be — a stepparent. As both a stepdaughter and a stepmother myself, I know this firsthand.
Watching A grow into an independent, capable adult has been a privilege. Indeed, her wedding wasn’t the moment she became an adult at all—it was a joyful milestone celebrating the life she had already built and the next chapter she and her husband would begin together. It was also a special time for me to get to visit with my mom, who flew out from California to attend, and to see my spouse walk his daughter down the aisle.
If I shared all the good wedding pictures here, it would probably exceed the blog’s remaining storage capacity. However, suffice it to say that the bride and groom were very happy with their farmhouse nuptials which they worked very hard to plan themselves. And after eight years of knowing B, we were very happy to have him officially join our family.
V and I rented an incredible three-story AirBnB in nearby Dalton, Georgia where both A and D, us, and my mom — along with a rotating cast of bridesmaids and groomsmen — were all able to crash, meet up, share meals, and hang out. There was constantly something going on and there was always something delicious to eat and drink. It was a great time.
A couple of days later, V and I headed to the Atlanta airport far too early in the morning. My mom boarded a flight back to California, while we began the journey to Washington state to visit my dad before returning to Rangoon—a route that would eventually take us so far west that we would end up east.
Collecting Postcards 