The Wedding

I vowed to only ever marry once, telling myself that divorce was never to be an option.   Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to find myself widowed at the age of 32. 

But it happened, all the same. And though it seemed unlikely to me at the time that I would ever feel whole enough to marry again, I did just that four and a half years later.  

Time and love have always had a sort of magical way of sneaking up and changing our minds about things like that.  At least in my life anyway.  

So this week for Monday Listicles "10 things wedding", I give you 10 things about the second wedding I never expected to have...

1. It was an outdoor wedding.  Or at least it was supposed to be.  

The weather also has a sneaky way of forcing us to change our plans.  At the very last minute, no less.  All the chairs and decor had been beautifully set up and arranged outside the front of the church when just minutes before the wedding was to start a huge thunderstorm rolled in, giving us no other choice but to move inside.  

I was married inside that very same church the first time, eleven years earlier.  But a sense of calm washed over me from where I sat waiting in the church library and I knew that it was all going to be okay.  Not just the wedding, but everything.  

2. My boys, almost 9 and 5 at the time, walked me down the aisle. Okay maybe it was more like I drug them down the aisle but still....

3. I had the bright idea to include all five kids in the wedding. They ranged between the ages of 5 and 21 at the time.  We had seven candles, one for each of us, and the family unity candle that we all lit together. 

I guess I didn't think about asking the length of the song that was to be played during the lighting because that was one looong song.  We all just stood there staring at each other in our sea of awkwardness. And I don't know who grabbed whose hand first but somehow we all ended up holding hands.  Kum bay ya we were.  Kum bay ya!  

4. I married a man who makes me laugh. Must have sense of humor!  I do not recommend marriage, parenting, or life without it.

5. I kind of underestimated my strength when I threw the bouquet. 

Oops.

6. In the end, it went to my very good friend, Jenn.  She too was (is) a single, widowed mom. 

7. My very good friend, Michele, took the photos.  She too is a single, widowed mom. Love those ladies.  

8. Sparkling grape juice.  It's what you toast with when you have your reception at the church fellowship hall.  

9. The birdseed thing may have gotten a little out of hand.

   

10. It was a happy day, in spite of the storms...