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]

Valma, Congratulations on the future wedding. Glad you like the bride-to-be. I married into an ENTIRE family of people who show up late to everything...polar opposites of my family and we are still together and it will be 33 years Friday.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

FrenchPoodleDoodle, I am not helping you move to Oregon, no matter how you try and butter me up :)

[Val MacQueen and Jasper]

I have all this to look forward to , my son has just become engaged but the wedding will not be til next year we think and she is a loverly girl- an Accountant going for her CPA- but always late so it is going to be interesting. I will put my hand up to help with arrangement with any thing I can do.

[FrenchPoodleDoodle]

I also wanted to say my mom did a great job planning the wedding. It was the most wonderful day ever and it would not have been half as good had she not planned the whole thing!

[FrenchPoodleDoodle]

Mom, don't lie to the people who read your blog...You snapped long before my wedding plans were ever started.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Yes, it is sad. I wish younger people had a bit more determination to work things out and a little less of wanting things to always be 'their' way.  With weddings you get to have pretty clothes and yummy food and cake.  I think I opt for weddings....

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Nancy, Sorry about having to work on something so sad.

Thanks, Sara!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I love this!  I would love to be planning wedding though for a child - any child - well one of my children.  Instead we are working on the divorce - sadly......

[Sara Schultz]

Oh my goodness! Laurie, thanks for a belly laugh tonight. You are too funny!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Lisa, I guess I did it the hard way and got Vern three months BEFORE the wedding, but I swear Fudge and Vern kept me sane. Then two weeks before the wedding, she came home with her little French Bulldog, so we had three dogs and 20 overnight guests the day after the wedding. What was I thinking??

 

Jennifer, Thank you! My DD is moving to Oregon next week. We are in PA, so any future grand babies are going to be so far away :(