All A Happy Blur!

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Franklin Lucas, III

September 23, 2006

This less than perfect picture seems exactly the right way to sum up the entire happy weekend -- it's slightly blurry, but you'd have to be blind not to see the joy on the faces of these two blissful newlyweds!

It's exactly the way we all feel -- the weekend is a blur, but only because there was so much to celebrate. While thoughts are still fresh with me, though, I'm going to set down the story of the weekend of September 22 - 24, 2006.

Friday, September 22

Countdowns and Meltdowns and Lifted Spirits

Friday morning Henry went to the drycleaner first thing to pick up my wedding suit and some shirts we'd left to be starched. His call to me just after 9:00 informing me that there was a grease stain on the skirt and that the outfit had not even been pressed yet set me in a total spin.

They agreed to do a quick turnaround and do their best to get it back to us -- by 4:30 in the afternoon. I was in a panic. I had a devil of a time finding a suit in the first place, and wasn't relishing the idea of having to find one in the few free hours I had to spare.

But there was an angel in the boutique department at Dillard's, who found every cocktail suit in my size and agreed to hold them all at the desk for me until we could find out if the suit was salvaged.

Fortunately, the skirt came out fine -- the grease stain was barely visible, and when I realized I was having to look hard to find it, decided to let it go, much to the relief of everybody who ever met me.

The happier part of the day was spent greeting my friends Karen and Andie who had come in for the weekend to be my "comfortable place." It was particularly mind-blowing to meet Andie for the first time face to face -- but like all the other online friends I've met, it was a wonderful experience.

My sister -- yet another angel -- and I met at Sinclair's to decorate for the rehearsal dinner, and she just totally took charge and did it perfectly. Absolutely perfectly.

I will be honest here and say that I was disappointed in the food -- Sinclairs is one of the most amazing restaurants, and I've never had a bad thing there -- but because the food had to be pre-prepped in order to get the group of 48 served in a reasonable time frame, I should not have expected their usual delicious offering.

Our service was wonderful, though -- not a single complaint there. They were prompt, attentive, and completely professional.

I was so proud of Henry -- I'd been bugging him about his Welcome Speech and his toast for weeks, and when we sat down and he pulled out a piece of paper and started writing it out, I about fainted. Off the cuff is not his strong suit, but he surprised me. His toast was lovely -- he referred to Jackie as "our Irish rainbow" and truer words were never spoken -- she showed up in our lives after the storm, and brought the beauty of our family back to life.

Her father offered an emotional toast, as well -- and I could shoot myself for not remembering exactly what it was he said, but it was so supportive of this marriage, and very much appreciated.

Unexpectedly, my father then stood. He'd said he just didn't trust himself to speak that night, but he felt he -- as the patriarch of the family -- had to officially welcome Jackie to it. Lovely, just lovely.

Then my brother Jim (aka Buddy) stood -- his toast was so funny (although I am sure that at least half the attendees didn't know exactly why we were laughing so hard about his referring to the concept of priming the pump at the old lake house), but there was finally a lyrical portion about the things that come to us in life that leave us -- but come back again -- that just about stopped my heart. He's the brother who I'm never sure is paying attention to anything outside his own crazy life, but he had been, and I was deeply moved by his words that spoke to faith, endurance, patience, acceptance, and love.

The best man, Ryan Poovey, also offered a genuinely lovely toast -- I had to hold my breath during that one, because ya just never KNOW with Poovey, but I was struck by how he has grown into a fine young man of grace.

The highlight of the evening, though, was son Thomas, who unexpectedly delivered a toast that left everybody at the tables wiping their eyes. He kidded with Luke a bit about his being the "little big brother" because of the difference in their size (always a sore point with Luke), and then went on to thank Luke for always protecting him -- and pointedly telling Luke after pointing at Jackie -- "Now I want you to protect her, too." At this point, the tissues came flying out of purses and pockets. By the time he said, "I don't think I've ever said this out loud before, but I love you," well, that was all she wrote.

My sister told me the next day that she was so hoping Luke would say that back to him -- but he did, in ways that may have been even more eloquent that words. Luke couldn't make eye contact with Thomas -- he kept his eyes cast up at the ceiling in an effort not to cry, and when he presented the slide show he'd prepared there were more pictures of Luke and Thomas together than there were of Luke and ME together. (Pffpth, but I'm over it.)

Anyway -- I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening, and couldn't have made it any more beautiful if I'd scripted it.

Saturday, September 23

Random Thoughts from THE DAY

There is no way I can do a complete hour by hour run down, so I'm just going to list some particularly memorable moments.

** Waking up at 2:30 because Henry was snoring, and wandering out to the den to try to get back to sleep on the sofa, and discovering that Thomas had fallen asleep there. I had to just stay up, and tried to go back to sleep at 6:00 for an hour and couldn't. Then tried to go back to sleep after my shower for just a quick power nap and couldn't. Finally decided that adrenaline would take over -- and I was right.

** Walking into the church at noon, and seeing Jackie there with her bridesmaids being photgraphed. Henry and I were dazzled. She was the most beautiful bride I have ever seen in my life -- everything was perfect, and she looked regal, and completely composed, and never, ever lost her patience or her good humor. Truly amazing, this young woman.

** Having to grab Luke and find a hiding place for him every time the photographer was moving the bride and her attendants, and then finding him in a small room playing the piano trying very hard not to be irked that he was missing the Georgia ballgame that his groomsmen were watching in their room. (He had to exit there because the doors overlooked the garth, where pictures were being made.) There are lots of practical reasons it makes sense to do pictures before the service -- including the ones with bride and groom together -- but I will confess that I just loved that they followed tradition on this one.

** Standing in the narthex with the families just before we got to walk down the aisle. Rose and I were reminding each other to BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT, and for the most part it worked!

** Taking those first steps down the aisle with my husband, and noticing that the very first people I saw were my sweet friends Melissa (and her husband Tom), Karen, and Andie. They had positioned themselves perfectly; whether this was intentional or not, it was just perfect.

** Watching Luke and Ryan come through the doors to stand at the front of the church, I felt very proud of myself for not boo-hooing -- and then here came Thomas and I very nearly began to cry. I looked at Henry and his chin was quivering, and he was biting his bottom lip, and it was at that point I had to just stop looking at him OR the boys. I found a spot at the altar and was reminded of those silly focal points our LaMaze coach suggested we use. Gotta say, that worked better this time than those other two times. ;-)

** Hearing the trumpets sound, and watching that back door of the church open, and seeing Jackie emerge, but quickly turning so that I could see Luke's reaction. There is no way to describe what he looked like, but if you could bottle whatever he was feeling, you could cure the world of its madness.

** Being so proud of both of them as they recited their vows clearly and audibly -- and with a little humor. They both grinned and put special emphasis on "for richer, for poorer." I'm not sure if anybody else caught that, but it was a sweet moment.

** The reception was just so much fun, although we had that last gasp of summer roll in just in time to turn the tent into a sauna. Some of the guests couldn't take the heat, and had to leave before the bride and groom made their appearance, but those of us who hung in there had fun! I ended up watching Alabama sacrifice a win in double overtime to Arkansas, and realized that if I'd been at home watching I'd have been in agony.

** Left the reception and went immediately to my parent's home where all the out of town cousins were gathering for supper, courtesy of Thomas and Cheryl. I made the remark that I wished like the devil I had a picture of Luke's face when he saw Jackie, and my cousin's husband Edward whipped out his cellphone, and voila! He actually snapped a picture of it! I should have my own copy of that in a week or so.

** Came home and decided not to shower or dilly-dally before meeting Melissa, Tom, Karen, and Andie at El Rey -- we were afraid if we sat down we'd collapse! Threw on a change of clothes and just went stinky.

** What an awesome time we had at El Rey, eventually winding up with a mixture that included the best man, two of Luke's fraternity brothers, and my cousin Walter and his wife Tanya. And tequila shooters. Let's not forget the tequila shooters.

Sunday, September 24

The Day After

I don't know when I've been more afraid to wake up, but at 5:30 I did -- with no hangover. I was bone tired, and miserable from that, but was otherwise totally fine. We managed to pull ourselves together and join Jackie's family for a brunch, and then keep it together long enough to go my my parent's house again for a final goodbye to the cousins who'd gathered there for lunch. Luke and Jackie were present at both -- the two of them have been raised in tight families, and they really loved spending time with people who'd come so far to be part of the festivities. They finally left for the beach, and Thomas came home and gathered his things and went back to Troy, and Henry and I could do little more than look at each other, and rest. I don't know when I've felt so blessed by so many things and so many loving friends and family members, and even though I could certainly come up with a few things that happened over the weekend that were irksome, those things fall away in the wash of joy.

Now, what do I do NOW?