It strikes me that I should not neglect to post here for three weeks only to post about the looming beef Apocalypse and that I am running off to eat a burger at a cowboy restaurant without even the smallest of updates.
Since Easter weekend when we got the news, life has been centered around "the wedding" (and you thought I was going to say "the baby"). A good friend was married here this past Saturday and 185 guests and staff showed up to witness the event. We don't do events here so we were absolutely unprepared with the four-month notice. My mom and I have spent many hours on the landscape, she has painted herself silly, and two young men worked their tails off all summer long to make the property presentable. Now is the time to visit us, by the way.
The wedding was fantastic. As the bride was leaving, she said, "This really was my dream wedding." I expect actual dream weddings are fairly uncommon these days, so this was high praise. I was too busy to take pictures, but I will post some when they become available.
The days leading up to the wedding were so busy that we never did attend to all of the details we normally would. My swollen feet and ankles are some proof. On the day of the wedding in fact, I laid out a purple shirt and tan shorts for Frederick to wear. Purple was one of the wedding colors. It was a good outfit for a child who would spend his day playing with children in the designated children's area. Apparently he wasn't into tan, so he appeared in his two favorite colors -- a purple shirt and red shorts.
"Honey, let's find something that matches a little bit better."
"But Mama, these are my favorite shorts."
Far too many things needed our attention, so the shorts stayed and Frederick spent the better part of the day on his new obsession -- Pac-Man. (Pac-Man is a great babysitter in a pinch, by the way.)
The wedding dinner was outside under a structure of white lights on Saturday night. The ceremony itself was in our great room, a massive 36x36' room that opens up two stories. There is a balcony on three sides of the room with two sets of stairs descending on the fourth wall and meeting at the bottom. The bridal party entered the wedding down these stairs, men on one side, women on the other. Each pair met at the foot of the stairs and processed to a massive rock fireplace. (I should add now that the only reason normal people like us can afford this house is because it is in the middle of nowhere and needs a lot of work.)
Just before the procession began, my mom and I were outside ushering in last-minute guests when we realized we had not unplugged the phones. She and I each made a mad dash to different phones and then I joined my husband at the video camera that was streaming video to the folks outside who preferred shade and beer.
The procession began and I asked, "Where's Frederick?" I left to look for him but assumed he must be in the great room.
I returned in time to see the bride and groom meet at the bottom of the stair and process to the mantel.
Only later did I hear that just after the flower girls descended and just before the bride would begin her procession, the door behind the stairs opened and a little boy wearing red and purple made a big entry. It would appear that most people thought it was funny. Surely I will laugh about it someday. That laughter would probably come sooner if his clothing actually matched.
In any case, I have survived. This whole pregnancy thing doesn't seem like a big deal at all after having nearly 200 people come to visit.
