So when Mimi and Julia were invited to be flower girls at the wedding of our dear and beloved friend Ion to a woman we felt to be his perfect match, I was a teensy bit excited.
The wedding and reception were in Stamford & Old Greenwich, CT, less than an hour outside NYC. Here's the first thing I learned: Seattle is not Stamford. Nor Old Greenwich. Yeah, we have the mountains and the sound and mild-ish winters but they have these low dry stone walls that were built in the 17somethings meandering through the landscape. In Seattle, we call such charming additions to our yards hardscape and we pay thousands of dollar for the "look." There it is just an old way of dealing with a bunch of unwanted rock. And the houses...be still my heart! I almost chipped a tooth trying to read the ever-present plaques identifying who slept where in the Revolutionary War. And the church nestled in the midst of this wonderful setting was as simple and elegant as one might expect.
We arrived early Friday morning, checked in to our Connecticut hotel, rested from our red-eye flight, and swam in the hotel pool. By the time the rehearsal was due to start we thought we were in pretty good shape. The girls were given their flower girl baskets and their flower girl instructions. Then it was time to run the drill. When it was their turn, my girls started down the aisle. Mimi made it maybe three steps. Then she pretty much froze on the spot and cried, "I don't want to do it, you can't make me do it!" Julia, not one to let a sobbing sis rob her of her claim to fame in this wedding, marched on. Mark and I nervously tried to brush it off using the lamest of parental excuses: Oh, she's just tired from the long flight.
While I know everyone would have been fine if this turned out to be a one flower girl wedding and numerous options were put forth by the bride's gracious and understanding mother to make this experience more comfortable for Mimi, I immediately set to work on a different tack. I pulled out my handy-dandy bag of manipulation techniques. I call my approach "Telling the Truth" because it sounds better that way. I began by reassuring Mimi that she didn't have to be a flower girl at all, NO WORRIES! But, oh shucks, the only dress I had packed was her flower girl dress and she wouldn't be able to wear that because that was ONLY for flower girls. Oh well, I was sure we had a clean pair of jeans somewhere that would be fine. And you know that pretty rhinestone hair clip? We could save that for some other event. Hmmmm...shoes....well, we'd have to find something other than the beautiful new white flower girl shoes we bought. I mentioned how I thought I packed her crocks...
When Mimi woke up the next morning she declared she wanted to be a flower girl after all and she never thereafter wavered in her decision. When it was her turn, Mimi held her sister's hand and proudly walked up the aisle like she did it every day of her life. I don't know if I cried more when Mimi approached the alter or when the breath-takingly beautiful bride came along behind her. Mimi continued to do a fantastic job standing still at the alter during the ceremony; she only almost picked her nose once! Meanwhile, Julia stood serenely infusing her wiggle-pot sis with a sense of purpose and honor.
2 comments:
They are sooooooooooooo beautiful.
We are going to a wedding this weekend, but Chloe and Pearl will not be the flower girls.
Lori
Aww, how beautiful! And such a smart and clever mommy! I'll have to remember that one.
I remember going to visit my cousin in Vermont and hearing about the "new" neighbors who took over the "old so-and-so's place". The "new" neighbors had been there for 15 years.
I loved visiting Boston and marveling at the history and cemetaries that held such significant people in our nation's history. Rick always says our driving excursion take twice as long because I want to stop at every historical landmark.
You and I need to take a trip to see all this stuff and leave the kids with the dads! I'm sure we'd have a great time!
Post a Comment