Bliss!

5 years ago today, at this time, I was sitting in the living room of our family friend's home, listen to a gospel singer belt out a special version of "Going to the Chapel" that she'd re-written especially for me. I wonder if my mom has the words somewhere- I don't know where they are....

This bridal luncheon was so thoughtful and special, and all around me were ladies who loved me; who were there to cheer me on for this special day. Oddly enough, if you know me at all, I had no cried at all yet at this point. I remember thinking that I should be happy enough to cry, but tears didn't come- I was blissful, there was NO sadness in me whatsoever.

That morning, I woke up before the alarm in my parent's house, in my old bedroom. I'd had a really good night of sleep, and I jumped up and hopped in the bath tub. I was pretty much just soaking it all in, and I didn't hear my mom come in, and she scared the bejezus out of me. She reminded me that we needed to leave before too long to get our hair and makeup done.

Off we went, and I remember being a little concerned that I had NO clue what I was going to do with my hair at this point. But, as it turned out, I had little to be concerned about- the gal who did our hair at the salon was brilliant, and the hair was very "me". She wrenched my tiara- yes, duh, those who know me should KNOW I wore a tiara on my wedding day- onto my head, and my mom immediately teared up. The hair gal told me to come back after our luncheon and she'd work the veil in. Mom got her hair done as I jabbered on nervously. Hair gal had also done my makeup, and told me to apply my own mascara, which I forgot to do...

At the luncheon (after which my friends went to get burgers- it was "ladylike" food) I was thrilled that the napkins had little rings tied to them. I snatched a couple so I could tie them to the ring bearer's pillow. His mother had told me a story from the previous evening at the rehearsal-- We had given Conal the pillow, and he looked at it, and asked where the rings were. His mom told him that he would just pretend to have rings, but would just carry the pillow. He thought for a moment, and then said "Well, I'm not a ring bearer then! I'm just a pillow bearer!!" Hmm... Yeah, I guess so....

Also at the luncheon, old Morgan showed up looking like she was ready for her quincenera (sp?). She's very tan, and when she'd gotten her hair done, the lady had used gel and slicked her dark hair back into a severe bun. She still claimed that she didn't look as bad as I did in my tiara (which she was vehemently against.)

At the church shortly after the luncheon, I remember walking into the bridal room and taking a deep breath in. Earlier, my mom had told me that if anything goes wrong, DON'T worry about it, because you can't change it, and no one else would know about it. Sage advice. I walked through the halls to the sanctuary, wanting to see my flowers. And what flowers do I find??? Baby pink roses. NOT the flowers I had selected. I am not a baby pink rose kind of girl. But, remembering my mother's advice, I accepted to mini-tragedy, and went to put on my dress. (Like FIVE minutes later, the florist showed up and swapped the flowers- the pink roses were from a funeral earlier that morning...)

We put on my dress, and then there was about 1 1/2 hours to kill with nothing to do but be nervous. At one point, my uncle came in and asked me if I'd heard from Brian. I said "no", and then asked why he wanted to know. A quick "No reason!" came from my uncle, and he ran out the door. Hmmm.... (Turns out Brian and his best man were a 1/2 hour late getting to the church b/c they couldn't find their way back to the church from dropping off our bags at the hotel...)

Then my friends new Morgan and Penny came in, who had driven from Lubbock. They sat down on the floor and started lotioning their legs after changing from the drive. Wedding nazi started throwing a fit because she didn't want to get lotion on the floor- I calmly pointed out that since they were adults, they probably could manage avoiding getting lotion on the floor.

It was at this point, when we were about to exit the room, that I figured out I had forgotten mascara. Everyone had already taken bags back out to their cars, and didn't have any, so I went through my wedding without mascara. After a quick prayer, we started down the hall towards the sanctuary. I got really excited and nervous all at once, and started singing "I'm gonna sing, sing, sing, I'm gonna SHOUT, SHOUT, SHOUT, I'm gonna sing, I'm gonna SHOUT, praise the Lord!!!" The girls started singing with me, and the wedding nazi came RUNNING up to hall to us, and said "GIRLS!! Hush!! The guests will hear you!!" Without my mother there to edit me, I looked at her and said "So, they'll what? Think I'm excited about getting married?? I'm okay with that. We're going to sing!!!" And continued singing, and praising the Lord, because in that moment, it was all I could think to do.

After yelling at my people in the back of the sanctuary to shut up because I wanted to hear my gospel vocalists, we began... I walked down the aisle on my daddy's arm, practically skipping. (I'm actually not kidding, I hopped down the aisle because I was so excited!) I stopped at the edge of the aisle to give our dear, dear friend Billie, who was in a wheelchair, a kiss, and then saw Brian. He was crying, but I had yet to shed a tear- I was so happy!!

We pledged our love, and ourselves, and I looked out over the guests, and couldn't have been more overcome with bliss. It was the best day of our lives thus far. But you know- I love him more today than I loved him then, which seems impossible.

Thank you for five WONDERFUL years, Brian!! (Did you know that one of my many nicknames for Brian is "smushy face"? Don't ask...)