On September 1, 1989, we didn’t have a wedding rehearsal. We opted, instead, for a cookout with our friends and family, which we held in the yard at the Reeves/Cody homeplace in Walnut. I won’t try to name everybody who was there, but we had a goodly crowd made up of folks from North Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan — maybe other places as well. We celebrated until past dark, at which point Leesa went home and I retired to my bedroom to finish our wedding song, which had its debut at just after 11:00 the next morning, Saturday the 2nd of September.

Phil Madeira, friend and music man from Nashville, played piano, and Leesa walked in to “Someone to Watch Over Me.” My uncle Cloice Plemmons later said that those old church walls had probably never heard the like. Then I played “Soul Mates,” the song completed less than twelve hours before. One funny problem that came up during the ceremony — a problem that a rehearsal might have fixed — was that when my uncle Mack, who officiated, asked for the rings, our older son Lane (just turned thirteen at the time) dropped four into Mack’s open palm. He stared at them for a moment, then said, “Usually at this point in the ceremony I have two rings, but now I have four. I don’t know what to do.” Everybody laughed. Leesa told him that three of the rings were hers and one was mine.

It was a great morning, followed by a great afternoon reception on Glory Ridge. Good memories of good folks and a good time. As I would later write in a wedding song for Lane,

This love has got people in it. Some are here and some are gone.

This love has got people in it. Some have stayed and some moved on.

“This Love” from the album Wonderful Life

All who’ve stayed here with us are loved. All who’ve moved on and gone are loved and missed.

Soul Mates

We have wandered across the years and miles
in search of a clear direction,
while some tangled memories maintained
a mysterious connection
to a corner of our hearts,
whether together or apart,
where love has waited patiently
from the first day of our history.
 
Soul mates,
sold out to fate—
what happens from now on
was planned before the dawn of time.
Soul mates,
so worth the wait—
each the other’s gift from heaven
like hand to glove or rhythm to rhyme.
 
Every true heart has the dream of flying
without fear of falling.
We stand on this ledge in answer
to love’s higher calling.
Gold to blue to gray
to black with night and rain—
it’s always the same big sky,
and every inch is ours to fly.
 
Soul mates,
sold out to fate—
what happens from now on
was planned before the dawn of time.
Soul mates,
so worth the wait—
each the other’s gift from heaven
like hand to glove or rhythm to rhyme.
 
When real life seems to steal the dream,
don’t let it break your heart,
though these bodies tight to this earth cling.
We can still lean back in laughter,
we can still take to the sky,
’cause these hearts have earned their wings.