One Week Ago

When we first sat down with the caterer, she told us that people will come to a home wedding. She was right. Our regret stack only had about a dozen cards in it.
After a week, and my mind has had a lazy rainy vacation to dwell on it, the memories are still not behaving quite properly and I'm only capturing snippets. So snippets are what you'll get.

Here are some thank you notes, in no particular order

To Lindsey for: scurrying to place the unpotted mums on the white runner when the breeze picked up and the rain started to fall. For pacing the driveway a hundred times, taking care of hundreds of details, including putting together Jennifer's dream bouquet and boutonnière's of soybean leaves. For remembering to light the floating candles and place them in the pool. I could go on.

To Jen for: staying holed up in her room on numerous occasions gathering addresses, e-mailing, putting together the dance mix, wedding party letters, ceremony music, writing the vows, all the while worrying, picking at her top lip, and trying to keep the cost minimal.

To Jen & Tony for: painting the gas tanks, moving "stuff" in the bobcat, planting flowers, digging, laying sod, helping gram with final interior touches on the cottage, checking off the lists, turning behind the tool shed into a wedding reception venue, camping on the night before, pitching in for the extras, coveting the $425 arbor with a gate at the foo foo garden shop, and then finding the perfect arbor at hobby lobby for $99, AND being sweet.



To Melissa for: helping with the garage sale, the boyne diversion, the maid of honor speech, sticking with the song a capella, helping build and then tear up the dance floor. And my favorite--watching her watch Jen.

To Ben for: his hard work, humor, best brother speech, and the fact that I don't think Jon from Deep End Films missed a frame.
To Annie for: being the first one up and out under the tent each morning, and then selflessly slipping away to her parents' hotel room to lighten the load for getting ready.

To Mark for: giving up his last summer of vacations to work on the farm, and then holding down the Muskegon fort while Jen and I divided our time between the Evart & Remington residences. Oh, and the paychecks.

To Jason & Nick for, effortlessly implementing their jobs, all the while enjoying their friends festivities to the absolute maximum.

To Steph and the SH gang for: loading and unloading sound equipment and gifts, helping in countless ways, not to mention watering the rosebush all summer.

To T-rock for doing her thing, for working the whole day and evening and for 1400 hundred memories.


To Uncle Paul for: making the long trip, by himself, topped off by the bachelor party attendance, and turning the ceremony into an all-in-the family affair.

To Aunt Ardy for: talking Uncle Ron into coming the night before, so she could do her magic. Uncle John for stepping up to hold down Melissa's music. To all the cousins for laughing, dancing, and enjoying themselves and each other. To my Aunts & uncles for making the trip as well as Jen's for contributing their personalities, taking their turn at the farm, and their stash.

To Matt and Dave for: being Lindsey's moral support and for letting Tom drive the golf cart.

To the Bridesmaids & Groomsmen for: moral support, buying the costumes, odd jobs, filling and refilling their gas tanks, decorating the tent, the church, the get-a-way car, & the golf cart, fireworks, envelopes, the blue moon keg, and mainly helping Jen & Tony enjoy the whole 2 & ½ days.

To Pam, Steve, Tony & Mary for: a lovely relaxing rehearsal dinner, Tony's baby pictures, more moral support, housing the bachelor party party, the honeymoon suite & Paris.

To our guests friends for: flying, driving, dancing, remembering your umbrella's, taking photos (and sending them to us), gifts, words, sharing the bathrooms, dancing some more, your lifetime of support, praying the rain away, but mainly for kicking back and enjoying yourselves because that was our intention.

To God for: life, love, salvation, quieting the cicadas, keeping the rain away and your perfect design of marriage & family.


Sitting under that tent and listening to Jen's selection of dinner music, eating a delicious farm supper and physically feeling the support of family and friends from just a couple of tables away and knowing that we were loved supported, and wished nothing but the best for this day---there are moments when one should be able to stop time.

There are other scenes that play out in my mind that are almost too tender to even think about. If for no other reason than to encourage you and myself to live each day to the fullest I will go ahead and stomp all over an already emotionally unstable post.
The drained look in Ben's eyes when all 100 strands of lights were hung, turned on, twinkled for a few seconds, and then went dark.
The relieved look in Ben's eyes when Tom and Jake finished interspersing an extension cord, testing each strand and relighting the second half of the display.

And last but not least, I will hold this one in my mind--probably forever. After almost a year of planning, building, cleaning & recleaning the barn, planting, watering, weeding, dead heading, painting, wallpapering, watering some more, praying, filling water containers, and working way too damn hard, a couple of bridesmaids who shall remain nameless, did some spinouts in the golf cart. And so Grandpa, being the grandpa that he is…slowly, and with his familiar limp, crossed the barnyard for the 6th or 7th thousandth time, grabbed the broom and painstakingly swept the gravel piles smooth at around 4:45pm on wedding day.
Grandma & Grandpa, there are only 8 small words: We could not have done it without you.


I mentioned to Mark the other day that I wish we could do it all over again. And he said, "Well we've always got Melissa's." He misunderstood. I meant I wish we could push the clock back to 5:30 on 8-18-07 and relive every perfect moment of this one.