10 Days

10 days? Really?

Pls excuse me while I hyperventilate very quietly over here in this corner…

Final dress fitting tomorrow. Best man flying in the day after that. Maid of honor and parents flying in the day after that. Then I think I will be calm for a couple of days, and then I will start stressing out again.

Actually, I am getting excited. I can’t wait to be a Mrs.! Every day I realise how lucky I am to have Jim. I know it sounds cliché, but I mean it.

Two weeks

Two weeks. Oh my.

I’m actually feeling pretty good about the state the apartment is in. It’s not too bad. There’s still some stuff we need to do, but I don’t feel completely overwhelmed by it right now. The hall closet is chock full of flowers for decorating the church. We need to do a little picking up, some vacuuming, but then I think we’ll be ready. Guy arrives a week from today and Melissa and my parents arrive a week from tomorrow.

It’s really real. We’re just two weeks away.

My final dress fitting is this upcoming Thursday. Our license is ready. We’ve met with Dr. Bennett and put a little flesh on the outline of the ceremony. Things are wrapping up. Whereas I had butterflies two weeks ago, I am beginning to feel a little more zen.

But maybe I am fooling myself.

There’s still a lot to do. All the flower arrangements for the church, the wreaths and the urns and the garlands. I still need to decide what to do about my hair — how to style it. And I’m anxious about how four people, most of whom are perfect strangers to each other, will live together in a two-bedroom apartment for a week. I’m starting to worry that it will be a little like Big Brother…

Melissa’s dress arrived at the shop earlier this week and she was able to catch the seamstress, so the alterations will be done soon. I am so thankful, because one tragedy and that dress wouldn’t make the flight East. My dress was delayed a full month because of an earthquake…But knock on wood, eh?

Now we have the dilemma of who will escort my mother to her seat at the wedding. Normally this duty would fall to the bride’s brother, if she had a brother. Most of you will probably know why that is not an option here. So who seats her? The next obvious answer is a close male relative, an uncle or cousin. The problem is, I grew up so far outside my own family, that there isn’t one male relative I can point to with definite surety. I can point to many male friends whom I would be honored to grace with the duty. The first man who came to mind (after we had gone through a couple of outright silly suggestions) was the husband of my mother’s best friend. They have known each other for 34, 35 years now, and 33 years ago this November John & Debbie were married, 13 months before my parents, in the same white church on the hill in Gardiner ME. Though separated by thousands of miles, at every trip home to Maine, they fall back in to the patterns of friendship and familiarity that I know have been established since they were 13 years old. If my mother thinks of any woman as her sister, it must be Debbie. And John’s a real peach — just you wait, they’ll erupt in giggles halfway down the aisle.

Debbie has MS. It has gone through cycles of severity and mildness over the years, and I have watched it alternately rob her of virtuoso flute-playing, then give it back; hinder her steps, then positively hobble her, then suddenly set her seemingly free; I watched it unexpectedly take away her hearing, then unexpectedly give it back. Through it all, Debbie always remains positive and happy, and John has stood by her and been her great help.

This summer, Debbie fell off a horse in a riding accident and had to have surgery to remove her spleen and repair some other internal organs. Since then she has been in the hospital twice for some sort of blockage and had surgery two weeks ago to address that. Now she has another blockage and they might have to operate again. We’re keeping our ears open and our hearts full of hope. This current ordeal doesn’t seem to have anything to do with being caused by MS, but who knows what the complications may be. Or what will happen. Or where we’ll be in two weeks.

It is my huge hope that Debbie & John will be able to travel to Massachusetts for the wedding, and John will be able to walk with my mother to her seat. So often they wind up walking together while Debbie and my dad walk ahead (they’re both pretty speedy, and John and my mother tend to always fall behind the other two) that there truly is no other person who should take this walk with her. Please take a moment now, if you will, to send Debbie your good thoughts and your good feelings and your hopes for her and John. I keep a hopeful heart and ask that you will, too.

Flutterbies

I woke up with butterflies in my stomach this morning. I think it’s because I am so excited for my friend Erica, whose wedding is tonight. We’ve been planning sort of in tandem this summer, and if her day is here, then mine can’t be too far away…In four weeks, in fact! Things are falling in to place rapidly: I’ve had my second dress fitting and scheduled the third and final. People are booking flights. The rings have been sent for engraving. Hair appointments have been made. Stuff is getting done. It’s amazing.

Erica, I am so excited for you!

35 Days to Go

The. Dress. Is. In.

Whee!! I’ve got my second fitting scheduled for next Thursday. I hope it’ll look great! ::fingers crossed:: The seamstress has got to pull in each side a good half inch or so…maybe a smidge more…and above the bust line about a quarter inch on each side to cinch everything in…and this is the dress that fit like a glove in April when we were dress shopping.

Melissa’s dress is due in on September 19th. She just needs shoes and a plane ticket, and she’s all set!

Guy seems to be flying in on October 3rd and then whisking my soon-to-be away the next night for Boys’ Pre-Wedding Night Out. I think I will celebrate, if Melissa comes in that day, by taking her out for sushi dinner. Why should the boys have all the fun?

We’ve booked the guest suite in our apartment building for the night before the wedding, so I can send the boys away and have only the girls in the apartment. The boys can hold court downstairs and I’ll hold court upstairs, and designate go-betweens.

Still at sea with the rehearsal dinner site. There’s some place we know of that isn’t bad, no private room that our party is large enough for, but the atmosphere and food are good. I’m half-tempted to go for it. But I don’t want to settle, either.

–
Ceremony site. Check.
Reception site. Check.
Getting out invitations. Check.
Wedding dress, shoes. Check.
Suit for the groom. Check.
Wedding rings engraved. Check.
Best Man & Maid of Honor. Check.
Usher & Usherette. Check.
Some thank-you gifts. Check.
Photographer. Check.
Flowers. Check.
Cake. Check.
Cake topper. Check.
Honeymoon. Check.

To do:
Waiting for RSVPs.
Dress fittings, breaking in shoes.
Rehearsal dinner location.
Some thank-you gifts.
Reception favors (but I have an excellent idea).
Reception decor.

Adion ouden erotos (Nothing is sweeter than love)

OK, so I’ll be retranslating this.

—————–

Nothing is sweeter than Love; and every other joy
Is second to it: even the honey I spit from my mouth.
Thus Nossis says: and who didn’t love Kypris,
Doesn’t know what sort of roses her flowers are.

Skinny boys in suits

Went suit shopping for Jim today — it’s state-tax-free weekend here in the Bay State! Whee!

A couple of hours and 6 suits later, we found a truly stunning BOSS by Hugo Boss three-button pinstripe suit. It took some trial and error, because each floor suit assistant measured him differently.

First we were sent to 42 Long, but it was okay to look at some 41 Longs as well. We found three suits there we liked, and the floor salesman brought over another that had just arrived. So we tried those on, but while we were admiring ourselves in mirrors, a second, much younger floor salesman (could have been the first guy’s grandson) said that the length of the suit was all wrong — we should be looking in the Regulars. So we went next to the Regulars. I felt that the sleeves were too short, but the younger salesman assured us that the sleeves could be dropped as much as an inch if need be, but we only needed a quarter inch, a half inch at most. A couple of suit jackets later, the older salesman caught up to us and criticized our selection (”I would never sell you that suit, it is too short for you.”). Okay, so that one was too short, I’ll agree. But I so wanted to blurt out, “But they told us to look over here!” Finally we found a 41 Regular Hugo Boss, and Hugo tends to cut his suit jackets a little long, so a Regular was actually acceptable.

I think it was basically a matter of age or taste that kept us running around the floor this afternoon. The older man preferred the long look; the younger man, hip to recent trends in suits, nudged us more toward slender styles.

Jim looks fantastic.

——–

Ceremony site. Check.
Reception site. Check.
Wedding dress, shoes. Check.
Suit for the groom. Check.
Wedding rings. Check.
Best Man & Maid of Honor. Check.
Usher & Usherette. Check.
Photographer. Check.
Flowers. Check.
Cake. Check.
Cake topper. Check.
Honeymoon. Check.

To do:
Rehearsal dinner location.
Thank-you gifts.
Reception favors.
Getting out invitations.

*Scream*

59 days before the rehearsal dinner, I find out that the place Jim & I booked the rehearsal dinner is closed — gone, poof, vanished. And our deposit along with it.

*Scream*

Time to start looking for a new restaurant. We really don’t have the time or the bank funds right now to go out and audition new restaurants until we find the next “right one.” I’m half tempted now, as I was a few months ago, to have the rehearsal dinner in the same restaurant as the reception, but in the smaller function room downstairs, not the upstairs we’ve booked for the wedding.

I’ve turned to local wedding discussion boards in an attempt to dredge up the names of as many local restaurants as possible.

Oh, and I need to call the Better Business Bureau too. I want that deposit back!

Or, ask our gourmet chef-cum-IT specialist friend to host a barbeque for 20 people, if the weather holds (or a wine and tapas party, if it doesn’t). Which would be, like, Imposition #1, but I wonder…

Your Personal Penguin

I like you a lot
You’re funny and kind
So let me explain
What I have in mind

I want to be your personal penguin
I want to walk right by your side
I want to be your personal penguin
I want to travel with you far and wide

Wherever you go, I’ll go there too
Here and there and everywhere and always with you
I want to be your personal penguin
from now on
 
Now, lots of other penguins seem to do fine
In a universe of nothing but ice
But if I could be yours
And you could be mine
Our cozy little world would be twice as nice

I want to be your personal penguin
I want to talk with you night and day
I want to be your personal penguin
I want to listen to whatever you say

Look at these wings
So perfect to hold you
I’d like to say again what I have already told you
Let me be your personal penguin
from now on

Wherever you go, I’ll go there too
Here and there and everywhere and always with you
Please may I be your personal penguin?
Imagine me your personal penguin!
I wanna be your personal penguin
from now on.

Ode

The Spacious Firmament on high,
With all the blue Ethereal Sky,
And spangled Heav’ns, a Shining Frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
Th’unwearied Sun from Day to Day,
Does his Creator’s Power display,
And publishes to every Land
The Work of an Almighty Hand.

Soon as the Evening Shades prevail,
The Moon takes up the wondrous Tale,
And nightly to the list’ning Earth
Repeats the Story of her Birth:
Whilst all the Stars that round her burn,
And all the Planets, in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the Truth from Pole to Pole.

What though, in solemn Silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial Ball?
What tho’ nor real Voice nor Sound
Amid their radiant Orbs be found?
In Reason’s Ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious Voice,
For ever singing, as they shine,
“The Hand that made us is Divine.”

About face

Okay, remember the blog post from a few weeks back when I got laid off?

Well, strike that. I’ve been asked back.

I’m starting back to the office on August 18. And my car, which went on the blink shortly after the lay-off, has been healed. We’re almost ready to go…except that all my work wardrobe has been packed up, and the interior of my car needs a thorough vaccuuming.

Jim & I are still moving in to that new, 2-bedroom apartment — this weekend. We’re in a packing frenzy.