You remember when I told you from the last super crazy weekend that there would be more coming? Well, that was this weekend. If you want to know the bizarreness & craziness that ensued this time...keep on reading...or you can run now. You're choice.
If you are still with me for this ride, then hi! Stay buckled in and keep your hands & feet inside until the blog post comes to an end. Sound good. Well then...let's do this. Enjoy the ride!
The past several months, my MIL started a new chapter in her life. My FIL passed away almost 10 years ago. She had been grieving over him ever since. After a lot of struggle in her life & a lot of health problems, she got back on track. She got healthier & was working out & losing weight. She was feeling pretty good, but still lonely & grieving. Sad since she is a beautiful woman, but living vicariously through her children, grandchildren & all of their friends. Seriously. And then...it happened. "It" was something no one ever really saw coming or that she would ever do or that she would ever get a hold of or...well...she was introduced to Plenty of Fish. Yes, the online dating service. This was weird for all of us. Glad she was starting to get out there & that she grasped that there was no chance that my FIL would ever be walking thru her door, but still weird.
Well, come July 4th of 2011, she was meeting with yet another gentleman. She was just, once again, being nice. She was feeling really weird about this whole dating thing...having a great time, but just weird for her. Well, she was going to meet up with this guy for lunch. That's all. But when they showed up...they looked like Twinkie Twins: you know, dressed alike. Royal blue shirts & white shorts. They seemed taken with each other & what should've been only lunch became a day-long date with fireworks in the air that night...in the sky & between them. After that...they were nearly unseparable. And a new love was born.
It didn't take too long before they were talking life together. And then, without a lot of thought process (that's whole different set of posts, people), they jumped into blindly planning a wedding on their own. Head-scratching planning, through & through. Including the date. She decided (without checking a calendar) to have her wedding on May 12th. Even though, once realized it was on Mother's Day weekend, she refused to move the date. She's stubborn like that. Even though it clashed with a lot of school functions, family issues, and the given weekend...she was bound & determined to do it right then...even with her (at that point) future hubby's birthday being that Monday (so today).
Hubby was to preside over the ceremony, which was weird for him, and I was to be the coordinator. I was also supposed to be the planner, but it's hard to live in damage control mode when they were knee-deep in situations they got themselves into before talking to anyone.
We then got to meet her man's side of the family finally, too. They hail from New York...accents and all. And the whole wedding party was mostly family-based. Only 4 "friends of the family" if you count one of the soloists & guestbook attendant. Heck, my kids were a bridesmaid, usher/scripture reader, and ring bearer. My stepdaughter was the maid of honor. It was weird designing the programs (yep, I did that, too) & noticing how many times I was having to put that a part of the wedding party was a grandkid of the bride.
Between meeting new parts of the extended family family & dealing with the weirdness, it went well. Even though the wedding was at 4:00 PM & the girls got there at 10:30 AM, I decorated the sanctuary, I made sure the bride & bridesmaids had what they needed, between wrong hairdo's (don't get me started), pictures taking 3 hours, trying to get the boys all together, thinking the wedding party would starve (due to more lack of good planning), a lot of talking to, running around, getting people where they need to be, the rehearsal & rehearsal dinner, hubby trying get out of town peeps to the church from the airport, tux screw-ups, over abundance of flowers (don't get me started), dealing with directing family to where then need to go during the wedding & pictures (since family doesn't necessarily like to listen to family)...it was something else.
Then clean up the church in record time to get to the reception (again, not well thought through), for food & music & stuff. We got word that one of the attendees of the wedding (a good friend of my BIL - one we all actually like) was in a horrendous accident on the way to the reception. I refuse to go into gruesome details here (and they are gruesome), but he will be OK...just very scary. But part of the band went to the hospital to be with their friend & put the reception even more behind.
But it was good to see some people that I hadn't seen or talked to in a long time. I even got to meet even more family that I only heard stories about.
All in all, the wedding went very well & I am very happy for my MIL & her new hubby. They are good for each other, even though they need live-in chaperones.
Then...after the tiresome wedding stuff & a late night with the reception, we had to get up for church & Mother's Day. I have my own feelings on Mother's Day, and it was so obvious that this one would not go very well. But we did get to spend time (eventually) with my mom & grandmother, then back over with his mom & visiting family.
So...we got home late last night, too. We were exhausted. Still are. Hoping we find some recovery time soon. Not sure when...but holding out hope...
Still with me? Did you make it to the end? Do you have whiplash? Well, I feel like I do after this weekend...and so does the rest of the family. I need a rest...
Oh...and just a note that if you're planning a wedding, do everything the opposite of how the in-laws did it.
Stay tuned...
God Bless, AM~Erica
so awesome to find love again...no matter at what age!
ReplyDelete