“May I Have This Dance?” *Weekend Open Thread*

It’s the Weekend, which means my “Good News” post for the week. Now, I realize that for MANY people, the news that Speaker John Boehner is giving up his position and seat at the end of October IS good news.

Well, except for Rep. Peter King, who claims the “crazies” have won now. Uh, yeah, no, and bite me.

Oops – that wasn’t very nice Weekend Good News speak. Sorry!

Ahem. But yeah, the “crazies” were very excited at the news, as this Hill article highlights:

Conservative voters roared in a standing ovation Friday at the Values Voter Summit in Washington after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) announced Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) plans to retire.

Rubio, who is running for president, shared the news that broke just before his speech, working it into prepared remarks where he questioned why a Republican Congress isn’t “able to stop our country from sliding in the wrong direction.”

“Just a few minutes ago, Speaker Boehner announced that he will be resigning,” Rubio said to thunderous applause.

He told the crowd it is time for Republicans to “turn the page.”

“With all due respect to people who serve in government — it is important at this moment, with respect to him and the service he has provided to our country — it’s not about him, and I’m not here today to bash anyone, but the time has come to turn the page.” […] (Click here to read the rest.)

Better yet, watch for yourselves and see the reaction of the audience:

Holy moley, huh? That response says it all.

And I agree with Sen. Rubio: it is time to turn the page. And maybe now that the Speaker of the House doesn’t have connections to Stem Express (via his aide whose sister started the company), something will be done to deal with Planned Parenthood. Wouldn’t THAT be some good news?

It should be an interesting political dance to see who becomes the next Speaker of the House will be choreographed.

And speaking of dances, I want to share this truly beautiful, though bittersweet, story with you. It is the story of loss, of love, and family gained. From KOMO News:

It’s been nearly six years since Pierce County Sheriff’s Deputy Kent Mundell lost his life in the line of duty. He was responding to a domestic violence attack when he was shot. Mundell died seven days later.

His daughter got married over the weekend, and what happened at the wedding has now gone viral.

There’s no argument about it. It’s among the most important days of a woman’s life. It’s also among the proudest any parent could wish for.

As Kirsten Mundell reminisced with KOMO about her dad and the day six years ago his life was taken in the line of duty, she also talked about the difficulty of planning her wedding day: […]

Isn’t that so powerful, beautiful, loving, and heart-wrenching, all at the same time? As Mundell said:

“Any wedding is a big deal, and not having my dad there was a lot harder for all of us,” she said.

Kristen knew she had to make it special. She knew that her father had to have a seat at the wedding right there in the front row.

“It’s hard realizing it’s been almost six years and he’s not going to be there and that chair,” she said. “It’s his chair and he’s there, but he’s not. It meant a lot knowing that we were able to save a spot for him and knowing that I felt him there I knew he was there.” […] (Click here to read the rest of the story and the transcript for the video below)

I can only imagine how much it meant to her to have these fellow officers step in for her dad on this special day.

Thank heavens for the photographer, Angela Lyons, who put up some of the photos on her Facebook page (with permission). Lyons said this about trying to do her job that day. From the New York Daily News:

[…] By the time the dance was finished, four officers had stepped up to take her hand and the entire room had been reduced to tears, Lyons said.

“You can see in the pictures, (the last officer) he’s pretty much holding her up. She’s emotionally exhausted,” she said.

Their wedding photographer was too.

“My heart was so happy and so crushed at the same time,” Lyons said. “I did have to step aside. I thought, ‘This is not about me.’ I had to step behind a barn door and I had to wipe my face off. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is overwhelming!'” […] (Click here to read the rest.)

But what an amazing tribute to this Deputy Sheriff whose life was taken too soon, and whose daughter had to walk down the aisle without him. No doubt, he was there in spirit, smiling down at his little girl as she takes this next major step in her life. And no doubt, he was thankful for his friends stepping in for him on this day.

This classic Anne Murray song seems an appropriate way to close this post:

This is your Weekend Open Thread.

Tags: Senator Marco Rubio, Speaker John Boehner