Meredith Parnell wasn't getting married, but she wanted to have a wedding dance with her father while they still had time.
Meredith Parnell couldn't bear the fact that her dying father would never walk her down the aisle or dance at her wedding.
So the young woman decided, although she wasn't even dating anyone, that she would wear a bridal gown and dance with her dad so she would have that memory no matter what.
In a recently released video from 2015, Meredith is seen wrapped in her father's arms as they silently swayed to John Mayer's "Daughters," surrounded by family members filming the event.
Lynn Parnell, frail and visibly week, is seen slowly rising from his wheelchair, dressed in a sharp suit. Meredith steps to him, and helps support him as he struggles to remain standing.
Both are lost in the moment, eyes closed, as they take small steps. Lynn was not able to finish the dance and was lowered into his chair. Two days later, he died after battling cancer for 12 years.
Now 35, Meredith married for real earlier this year, and played that sweet video at her reception.
"From the moment I found out about his diagnosis, a million questions ran through my head," she said. "Eventually my mind wandered to the day I'd get married, and the fact he had to be there for it. He had to walk me down the aisle, he had to dance with me at my wedding. He had to be OK."
That was when she decided to manufacture those memories. She borrowed a dress and veil from a friend who owned a bridal shop.
Her father rested all day, storing his strength so he would be able to stand and take his daughter's hand. "That moment is priceless," she said. "The whole experience is priceless to me ... He danced as long as he could before the strength ran out. What a gift."
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