True Tales of a Wacky Wedding Rehearsal...

Pop Quiz:

Which of the following happened during our wedding rehearsal?

A)  We locked the groom's mother out of his house without her keys or purse ten minutes before rehearsal began.
B)  The matron of honor got lost trying to find the ceremony venue.
C) The bride's phone died and the groom left his at the house, meaning the bride and groom had no idea how to get to the rehearsal dinner location, being as it was a restaurant (an amazing restaurant, by the way) located tucked away in the vast middle of nowhere known as Hurlock, Maryland.
D) The bridal party discovered they had no working electricity to try out music for the rehearsal, since it had not been turned on at their outdoor location.
E)  The bride's mother got stung by a bee on her foot as she returned to her seat after walking the bride down the aisle, prompting her to scream at the top of her lungs and kick off her shoe, sending it sailing across the park and smacking the boyfriend of the maid of honor.
F)  The bride's brother's girlfriend (who is allergic to bees) was also stung.
G) All of the above.

If you answered G, you're probably thinking, she's gotta be making some of this stuff up.  This doesn't happen in real life.

Well, if you're Jenny Meister...

it does.

So you would be correct in answering G.

But here's the thing:  the rehearsal was far from perfect, just as my fiancé and I are far from perfect.  But we are in this, no matter what.  So even if bees swarm our wedding (they sprayed), or the electricity doesn't come on (they promised it would) or I trip and go falling down the aisle (I hope I won't), or we drop the rings in the Choptank River (they're insured)...

I am still getting married tomorrow.

To the love of my life and my best friend.

The father of our daughter, our protector and provider.  The one who keeps me safe and tells me I am loved.

And at the end of the day, each other are all we really need.

Now having said that, it looks like God is blessing us with beautiful weather.  I pray all who are attending travel safe.  I pray that the catastrophic every day crazy that likes to follow me around chills out for a bit.

"This is going to sound like fiction" is my brand name.  It's the little catch phrase that describes my quirky, strange-but-I-swear-it's-true humor writing.

As I was relating the wedding rehearsal woes to a friend, she laughed, and said, "That's so Meister!"

Funnily enough, I'm even listed under her phone contacts as Meister.

But here's the thing:

As of tomorrow, I'll be a McFadden.

And while I'm sure the true tales of every day crazy will continue, what I really want for tomorrow is for the only crazy but true story to be of how much we love each other.

And no matter what else does or does not happen, I know that's what I'll remember.

Happy Wedding Eve, E'rrybody!!!

Rehearsal Dinner was a blast, even if rehearsal wasn't exactly what one would call smooth sailing...

Going to the chapel...

And we're... gonna get marrrrriiiiiieeeeeed.

Actually, we're headed to a state park.  It is my little girl, happy-ever-after, dream-come-true, knight-in-shining-armor fairy tale ending.

Except it's not--it's a beginning. 

We contemplated the courthouse.  But Rashieme said it before I would admit it:  "I'd feel like I never gave you the wedding that you wanted.... You want to get 'Disney-Princess-Married.'"

Now before we get all judgmental:  yes, it's true.  I want a special day.  I want the ending of every romantic comedy movie I've ever balled through and the happily ever after of fairy tales and Disney movies.  I've never claimed not to want that, even though I believe I am a strong and independent woman.

I don't need the wedding to be happy.  I already have everything I need.

But I want it.  I want just one perfect day where we can celebrate each other and our love.

And I do want to look beautiful.  I have the perfect dress.  The perfect colors.  The perfect place.

Most importantly, though, I have the perfect man.

He's not perfect in actuality, but then again, none of us are.

But he's perfect for me.

He makes me smile when I want to cry.  He listens when I need to vent.  He tells it to me like it is when I am unjustifiably angry or irritated.

He makes me laugh.  Every single day.

He is a wonderful father and will be an amazing husband.

Our road has definitely not been easy.  But by the grace of God, through the twists and turns and sometimes seemingly insurmountable mountaintops and darkest valleys, we have arrived on the other side.

And I am not naïve enough to believe that married life will be full of less ups and downs than were the fourteen years (FOURTEEN YEARS!!) leading up to it. 

But the difference, to me, is the commitment.  The knowing that we are in this for good.  That there is nothing I can't come to him with, and vice versa. 

So in two weeks we'll be saying, "I do."  "For better or for worse."  "Till death do us part."

And I believe that not even death can separate those whose love is founded in Christ Jesus.

So I want to thank my Rashieme, for standing by me through thick and thin, for letting me get a little Bridezilla from time to time, and for putting Kaliah and I first each day.  The last few months have been a challenge, with me hardly ever home.  He's not complained once.

I also want to thank our families and our friends for all their help and support as it turned out that magical fairy tale weddings don't just fall neatly in your lap, you have to actually plan them.  When you're not really a detail person (such as myself), the amount of work you have to do can come as somewhat of a shock.  I'm going to call this wedding a success if everybody shows up with clothes on.  And you know what?

It will all be okay.

Because most of all, I want to thank my God for bringing my soul mate back to me.  Big wedding or small, rain or shine, over budget or under... what matters the most is that we love each other, and for that?  I am eternally thankful to our creator, who imagined the moment that will occur two weeks from now (and all of the precious moments to follow) long before even I did.

Peas and carrots for life.

A Triumphant Return After an Unrealized Absence

So I'm glancing back over my blog entries, now that I've finally found a spare moment to blog, and I realize that, it has been nearly ONE WHOLE MONTH since I've posted anything.

Which shocked me, only because I can't believe I haven't updated this thing since my kid's birthday.

But also because my daughter's birthday seems like it was ages ago, yet it feels like I could not have possibly spent that much time not writing.

As a school teacher, during the summer time, I had a routine.  I woke up.  I read my Bible.  I wrote.  At least five pages.  Everyday.  And I ran.  At least three miles, at least three times a week.

This summer, I am no longer a school teacher.  I am the director of the Young Writers Summer Camps.  I am a manager at the Cottage Café.  I am a bride-to-be.

I am not writing on a daily basis (or, um, at all).

And running and I are in the midst of a lengthy separation, basically headed for divorce.

I can let the running go.  I ran my marathon.  I eat well (usually), and I get plenty of exercise at work.  So I don't need to be a runner right now.

 And temporarily, I suppose I've put my writing on hold (which is crazy for me, because I can't even think of myself in terms of who I am if I'm not a writer).

But the reality is, right now, I'm not writing.

What really strikes me about this situation is how sometimes, on the verge of so many new and exciting horizons, you become someone you never saw coming.

If you asked me who I was last year, I would have said:  A mother.  A Christian.  A writer.  A runner. A girl in love.

I'm still all of those things, but at the same time, some of them have slipped away from me.  Of course I'm still a mother--but I'm not making home-cooked meals.

I am still a Christian--but I'm ashamed to admit that today was the first day in a couple weeks that I forced myself to find time for my Bible when I woke up.  Why?  Because I've been closing at the restaurant, getting home around three in the morning, to barely find a few moments with my pillow before waking up and rushing off to the university to see over everything there.  And then the process repeats itself until I finally stumble into a day when I only have to work ONE JOB, and that's very exciting.

Nothing, and I mean, NOTHING, that I do is more important than my time with God.  Yet somehow, I've been letting it be stolen from me, in the distractions of business, obligations, the desire to do a good job.

Nothing that I've embarked upon is something I don't want to do.  It all matters, and I love it all.  But I have got to say that I was truly astounded that this much time has passed this summer.  And I need to remember that no matter how busy I get, no matter how many issues demand my attention:

I have got to keep my priorities straight, and I have got to stay true to who I am.

Because other wise, none of the rest of it will matter.

I saw a quote the other day that I'm taking to heart.  It said:  "I finally realized today that I cannot do everything.  So I have decided to do as much as I can do and do it fabulously."

And that's it.

So today, I read my Bible.  This is me writing.

I plan to do them both again tomorrow.

And no, I won't really see my daughter tonight, because she was asleep when I left, and she'll be asleep when I get home.

But maybe I will leave her a note or a little surprise, just to remind her, that I still love her, even in my absence. 

And the wedding stuff--every time I start to stress about not having the right color flower petals, or wondering if my shoes are going to be that special, magical height in between nope-that's-taller-than-my-fiancé, and not-so-flat-that-I-have-no-added-height-and go-tripping-over-my-dress-and-rolling-down-the-aisle--

I am going to remember that none of it really matters, aside from the fact that we love each other, and I am finally marrying my best friend.

And as the day throws more at me, I will recite to myself one of my new life verses:  Psalm 54:4-- "God is my help, surely the Lord will sustain me." 

Without him, I'm just a hamster on a wheel.  But with him?

Well, I'm doing the best I can, and I'm doing it fabulously.