Growing up the concept of a "godparent" seemed foreign to me. By that I mean something only people from other countries did like in the Francis Ford Coppola movie of the same name. As I got older I heard of a few people using the term to mean almost a "backup set of parents". Usually this was a close family friend or biological family member who in the result of a catastrophe would take on the responsibility of raising the kids. Never did I encounter anyone who had to follow through on this arrangement and it seemed almost an empty ceremonial title (I'm sure this varied from family to family though).
When I was becoming familiar with Romanian culture I realized it meant something much more profound to them. When a couple is planning their wedding in their culture they ask another experienced married couple to serve as their godparents. It is a great honor to be asked and the idea is that the godparents will serve as a guide to the newlyweds. Our godparents are Monica and Silviu are friends of Ana's going back to college. They also happened to be the godparents of Nick and Roxana the couple who's wedding I met Ana at.
I've grown to know them over the years when visiting Romania, on vacations and of course at our wedding and Bridget's baptism. They are genuinely wonderful people who are kind, helpful and a blast to be around. They are also quite the jet setters living in places like Saudi Arabia and Dubai due to Silviu's work in the oil industry.
7/1/2021