Two Doodles and a Wedding!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

 

Last year, at this time I was in the middle of planning my DD's wedding. My best friend's daughter is getting married this year on the exact date and her shower was yesterday. It brought the whole process back to me. My DD delegated the entire wedding planning process to me.  She was not kidding when she said she just wanted to show up.  I was in the throes of major wedding stuff when we brought Vern home at the end of March.  When I told my sister that I was getting another puppy, she said she was not surprised, but she questioned the timing. 

 

If you have never planned a wedding before for 200 people, you might not think it is that much work, but I can tell you, you would be wrong.  Some people might say I am a detail oriented, anal retentive, relentless planner, and to those people I say, “I don’t care if I gave birth to you or married you, be quiet.”  My DD was working to get her PhD and did not want to be bothered with any of the details.  Unfortunately, I had to get her help for some of the things I could not do on my own, such as the guest list. This proved to be a major challenge. The initial guest list I received from the bride and groom looked like it had been put together after they had thrown back a few beers, because it was incomplete at best. A couple of monkeys at the zoo could have done a better job. When I told her this, she got mad, so I told her we will all just keep our fingers crossed that the post office could find New Jersey aunt and uncle, Grandma and Grandpa, cousin, cousin, cousin, and Aunt Tootie.

 

The closer it got to the wedding, the more stressful my life became and I was exhausted. My DD and future SIL were well rested and happy because they just said one of these three responses when I called, “I don’t care, you decide, or you pick.” On other occasions, my daughter would just change the subject and I guess this had happened one too many times and I finally snapped.  I had called her one day to ask her a very important menu question and she answered by asking me if I had heard about Arizona’s illegal immigration law. At this point, I did not care if little green aliens singing Kumbaya were crossing the Arizona border and on the way to the wedding as long as they had RSVP’d. She was shocked when I told her that and went on to say this was a current event and I should be more informed, and I screamed into the phone, “DO YOU WANT A FRUIT SALAD OR GRILLED VEGETABLES AT YOUR WEDDING!” Finally, that got her attention and she quickly conferred with her fiance and came back on the phone and said, “We don’t care. You pick.”

 

This was what I was working with every day, so my stress levels were high.  Having Fudge and now our new puppy, Vern, kept me sane. Seeing those sweet faces, playing with them, walking them to clear my head, and just being able to forget about that stupid wedding helped me realize that I still had my life to enjoy.  My sanity came into question many times during the course of the wedding planning, but without those dogs I would have been carted off to the loony bin. I could see my family now, shaking their heads, and saying, “I just don’t know what finally pushed her over the edge. She just kept saying something about Arizona.”

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Sherri, Thank you for your nice words. I am sorry about your mom!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

What a funny story. Oh Laurie, you are a good mom. My mom is in a facility because she has dimentia, but even at her healthiest she would barely lift a finger for me. I practically raised myself. Your daughter is lucky to have you, and so are your doodles :o)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thanks, Bonnie and Nina! I appreciate your kind words.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Oh Laurie! I loved reading this! We decided to move to another state when our daughter got engaged. We moved three days after the wedding. She was in school so left most everything up to me to prepare (as well as packing for the move, getting our house ready to rent, etc.) I love your sense of humor. It was a delight to relive my experience through yours.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

Oh Laurie, I just love reading your posts.  They always make me chuckle. :)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Lisa, Do not tell her you liked Oregon..LOL!   We want her to move back to PA :) I did tell her when she buys a house the doods and I are coming out for a month. We will see how soon she starts looking for a house with that incentive...LOL!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Yes I saw that she had said she was moving there. We LOVED LOVED Oregon, we were there for 3 years, wanted to stay but no real jobs there for my DH after grad school.

:o( bummer that she is moving further but it's a great place to visit!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Lisa, We actually had a Photo Booth. Our venue had never heard of this before, and I have to say, it was a huge hit and now I see them all the time :)  My DD is moving to Oregon...no grandchildren just yet...figures she moves clear across the USA..LOL! Yes, if I were you, I would start bribing Nicole to have those babies.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Laurie, take DD up on that Grandchild offer! I have to get Nicole busy, the deal with DH is as soon as grandkids come I get to retire!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Laurie, in my email today I got a forward from Nicole...it was a groupon for 1/2 off a photo booth...her comment "this would have been great for my wedding at this price", she is still involved in the wedding planning - ha.