The top of Syd's wedding cake was a tier-jerker

 Sydney's wedding was profoundly special in so many ways that I wasn't expecting. I already mentioned how the license plates and the bucket connected us to my dad and Brad's grandfather...a sweetly spiritual presence that made the day seem even more magical. 

Little did I know, though, that my empathetically intuitive daughter was waving wands and making magic for months leading up to the wedding.

My little spell-spinner began to bewitch me when we made a visit to my mom months ago. Sydney showed Mom her beautiful engagement ring, talking like she was a jeweler from Tiffany's. She gently lifted Mom's hand to compare rings...explaining how she had got a square cut because she liked Mom's so much. My mother beamed, inviting Sydney to take a closer look at the ring that has adorned my mother's finger for almost seventy years. Sydney marveled at it before orchestrating the three-generation picture that I now treasure. My mom's attention was riveted to her ring; momentarily lost in the love that still connected her to my father. Looking up, she held Sydney's hand again and reassured her that her ring was nice too.

Sydney's spells didn't stop there. She had taken some discreet, secret photos that day at Mom's and mobilized her minions to make some more magic. 

My mom and dad's cake topper has been an ever-present decoration in the many homes that they'd shared together. It was a sort of predecessor to the Elf-on-the-Shelf phenomena. I cannot remember it ever sticking to a single location. Sometimes it was bedside. Mantle-piece. Kitchen table. China cabinet. The thing got around but it was ALWAYS there. As you can imagine...it suffered some chips and scratches along the way...always repaired. Of course it made the journey to Mom's apartment, taking up a discreet but comforting position on her little living room window mantle overlooking the pond. 

Until, one day, without warning, a picture text popped up.

Sydney had arranged for a 3-D modeled replica of Mom's cake topper to be made...incorporating her and Douglas's features and, fun! included their three dogs. 

When did I become such an emotional basket-case? That sweet gesture about took me out at the knees.

What an amazing way to include and honor my parents on Sydney's special day.

So that is how that fragile but resilient little cake topper made its biggest location shift; from Vee's window to Sydney's wedding...New York to California (and back)...standing in for my mom when she couldn't be there. 

Magic. Pure magic.