A Drive Home
The nice thing about being brought up in a half dozen places is that each one feels like home. Whenever I return to the ridiculously perfect weather in southern California, or to the spectacular vision of the Golden Gate bridge in the northern part of the state, or to the long sweep of the Virginia coastline, or to the leafy splendor of my new home state of North Carolina, I feel my heart soar and my eyes well up and I wonder how I was ever happy anywhere else. This weekend, I returned to another of my homes, the placid heart of the country, to attend a wedding. When I crossed the state line into Indiana I got teary-eyed again, and I had to laugh at myself. I made myself pretty miserable for the first year I went to college in this state, and did very little but complain about how boring it was to be 18 and surrounded by cornfields and bad pizza joints – and look at me now. I’m just a big old sentimental softie, and whenever I head back the Midwest, I get smothered with love from old friends, I cast a nostalgic eye over the indomitable corn, I eat Penn Station subs, and I wish that I could move back. Until it snows. Then I scurry back off home and leave the weather to the natives.
The wedding I attended was just a dream. I’ll leave a complete description to the bride, a fellow blogger who will surely have lots to write about when she returns from her tropical honeymoon, but here are just a few of my favorite moments:
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Her grandmothers were the flower girls. Let me just tell you, the only thing cuter than watching a be-flowered little girl wander aimlessly up an aisle banging her flower basket on each chair is watching two grandmas marching in step with one another, sprinkling flower petals as they go, smiling and bumping into each other.
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Her veil. Holy cow. It was like 10 feet long and completely amazing.
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The food. You may remember my blog about mashed potatoes. . . well, the excellent entrée was served with some phatty mashed potatoes, and I almost licked my plate.
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The mother of the bride. She was positively giddy. She kept touching my arm and saying “Just look at her. Isn’t she beautiful? Have you ever seen a bride as beautiful as her? There is just no feeling like this. God, look at her. . .” I wanted to hug her. What a great mom.
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The company. The bride had seated me at a table with a ton of college friends that I hadn’t seen in years, and catching up with them was great. I had almost forgotten what a wild and fun bunch of people they were. Three had just had babies, and breast pads were flying as thick as the jokes. You can take the girl out of the sorority house, but you can’t take the sorority house out of the girl!
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The Broad of Honor and the Maids – 2 old friends and one new, these sassy chicks were a blast to hang out with. They also did a great job of fussing over the bride and organizing her day. I think she chose well! I’m so glad I’ll be seeing the BOH again soon – in just 4 weeks!
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Finally – – – the groom.
No matter what your girlfriend says about her man and how wonderful he is, you wouldn’t be a good friend if you didn’t reserve your judgment until you met the man. Well, I’ve met the man, and he is just as wonderful as Amanda says. He was sweet, cute, attentive, and kind. He is perfect for her.
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On Sunday, as I drove from an old home to a new one, I watched the scenery roll by and listened to the radio. I sang to myself – I called relatives – I breezed by a stock car race, some wild horses galloping in a field, a picturesque barn or two (or fifty) – I cursed a traffic jam. I thought of my own upcoming nuptials, and of how Amanda’s and my weddings fit into the fabric of human life, celebration, history. It’s a small party in the scheme of things, but I feel connected to my ancestors and my descendants whenever I attend (or plan) one of these things. People have been doing this for time immemorial. I hope we never stop celebrating.
you did a fantastic job with explaining amanda\’s wedding! it was perfect in every way! it was wonderful seeing you again!! and now i\’m off to discover your bridal portraits…
WOW!WOW!WOW! your portraits are amazing, gill! absolutely stunning! your dress and veil are incredible — very soft and feminine. i love them! and that sexy shot of you in the tree? woowee! you go, girl!
The wedding sounds fantastic. I love it when you can get caught up with the "old" gang!
Hi!
Swinging over from Amanda\’s space…love the small recap you wrote of her Big Day. She emailed me a bunch of details – her veil, the grandmas…sounded like a great time.
Congratulations on your soon-to-be Big Day – hopefully your plans are running smoothly!
I might have to steal your \’I\’ survey sometime…just a warning 😉
I had such a great time at Mandy\’s wedding too….it was awesome…and even though I didn\’t know anyone there, she sat me with the best group of people and really hit it off, as if we\’d known each otehr our whole lives…she really put on a great wedding!!
Gillian,
Amanda invited us to stop by your space to get more details about her wedding until more of the pictures are in.
I was grinning from ear to ear when I first read about the Grandmas walking down the aisle on Amanda\’s space, but when I read that part about the ceremony here, I actually burst out laughing. Cannot wait to see more pictures and words about Amanda\’s ceremony and yours which is coming up soon.
I too, may copy your "I" list like NJaney said, you have a really nice space and will come back to visit often.
Patricia
:>)