Going to the Chapel

Yesterday was a big day for our family. The oldest grandchild of my parents, the firstborn baby in our family…the one who got ALL the spoilin, Allison, got married to Derek. First of all as a sidenote, I have to tell you that Cody was sooo impressed with the church where they got married because they had a … snack machine. All we have at our church is a coke machine. I’m just saying…he’s weighing his options.

It was fun, stressful, and tiring planning the wedding because the MOB (no, not that kind of mob with guns, but 'mother of the bride' who sometimes wished she had a gun) my sister, Lisa, who normally would help the daughter with a lot of the planning, lives in Mississippi. So that would leave Grammy, Ne-Ne and I to help Alli plan. I will say that Allison’s idea of planning does not involve spreadsheets. I am not kidding…how in the world can you plan an event without spreadsheets? But I digress...

The planning all came to fruition yesterday…the big day. It was a sweet, beautiful ceremony with its share of wedding ‘bloopers.’ First of all, the lighting was really bad in the front of the church and my dad, AKA the minister, had a hard time seeing his ‘script.’ What little light rays he could have gotten were blocked out because the groom is so tall. Then my dad decided to change the order of something in the program…but alas he forgot to tell anyone except his brain because there was a long pregnant pause when he was trying to send a message via telepathy to my brother-in-law at the soundboard and the singer that he wanted the next song to go there. But at the end, they were married and are now having some fun time on their honeymoon.

Three things I take away from this past weekend. One, my boys clean up good. Caleb was the ring bearer and Cody was an usher…and they were both total stud muffins in their tuxes. Second, I learned that Cody should never be allowed to have free reign with a video camera under any circumstances and that Caleb should never be interviewed on video. They left some incredible video that most assuredly will be used against them some day…with pleasure.

Thirdly, I felt once again the most incredible feeling of family. My parents have spent their lives making sure that my sisters and I knew how important family is in this life. They made sure we knew how to pass this on to our children, and one day to our children’s children. Is our family perfect? Not by a long shot…but it’s good, fun, and warm, and safe. This new union was not unlike most…some difficulties, lessons learned, decisions made that some did not agree with…but when it’s all said and done, we have a new member of our family and that only makes us more grateful, and thankful for the addition. I just know I want to be with these people, my people, as much as I can for the rest of my life.

In this home…
We do second chances.
We do grace.
We do real.
We do mistakes.
We do I’m sorries.
We do loud really well.
We do hugs.
We do family.
We do Love.

Congratulations Alli & Derek! May your marriage be rich and sweet... and fun. I love you.