Well.

Where do I begin?

I honest-ta-gawd forgot to put my underwear on.

I was fine during the ceremony, but I almost didn't get out the door as the weddin was about to start because I was sobbing so hard.

And, for some strange reason, I licked the knife after we made the first slice in the cake.

Other than that, the wedding was fabulous!

Earlier in the week, weather reports said it'd be miserably hot and humid. But that morning, current weather reports called for anywhere from 30 to 70% chance of thunderstorms. It figured. All the planning, all the prep had gone flawlessly. Because we really didn't have a backup plan for rain, I thought surely this would be the catastrophe that had to happen. A big-assed thunderstorm just as the weddin started.

Poetic justice. Karma. Whatever.

But it just didn't happen. Despite a few clouds, the weather just couldn't have been better. It was downright cool, in fact.

In no way, shape or form, was it your "traditional" wedding. But it was the way we wanted it and it turned out perfectly. I do think a few people were pleasantly surprised at the casualness of it, though. One guest, in particular, was suprised. Every time I saw him, he said, "This is GREAT! Really great!" I think he was just tickled that he didn't hafta wear a suit.

I was kinda worried that I'd be sorta...anal...about everything. I can be that way sometimes. But honestly, it was so casual, and so easy, I really didn't worry about a thing (well, except the whole 'no underwear' thing when I was tryin to do the hula hoop...I kinda worried about that)...just had fun.

My daughter, Julie, was a big help, as was Melissa, her friend that she'd brought along. And our good friends, Jack and Karen were just the best. They helped with everything from setting up the tables to cookin the cheeseburgers to...well...whatever we needed help with. And our neighbors! They were just awesome, lending tables and coolers and offering anything we needed.

One of our neighbors noticed that Karsin (my 7 year old granddaughter) kept snaggin one of our cameras to take photos. She (the neighbor) is a semi-pro photographer and she went and got one of her cameras for Karsin to use. I mean...like...a fancy digital. With lenses and everything. She patiently explained to Karsin how to use it and turned her loose. That kid was havin a ball! And she was takin some damn good photos...in fact, the one of the face-up Sponge Bob was one of 'em.

Anywho, sometime later, Jules (my daughter), with a stricken look on her face, called me in the house, sayin, "This is serious." When I walked in, Karsin was sobbing. Seems as though she'd just "set" the camera down on the sink (uh huh)...and shattered (what I thought) was the whole lense.

Still sobbing, Karsin bravely told the neighbor what she'd done. Thankfully, it was only a filter. The neighbor said it was about three bucks to replace, hugged Karsin and told her to stop crying and gave the camera back and turned her loose again.

The wedding gods smiled once more.

The only thing I regret was that I didn't have more time to spend chatting with old friends and gettin to know some new ones. I tried to make the rounds, but tended to get distracted. (Ohhhh! Sparkly!)

The Zigster was definitely in his element, though. He's quite the raconteur and entertainer. In fact, he and Jack did an absolutely rousing rendition of "Oklahoma" for the guests. Someone took a great photo of the two of them, Zig with his mouth wide open and his hand flung up in the air during the "finale". Don't worry. I'll post it when I get it. heh

He got an especially meaningful wedding present from one of my bestest pals, too. A summer squash. Yup. A great big yellow summer squash. I'll tell ya the story one of these days. hehe

Ok, you're probably yawning, so I'll stop here by saying it just couldn't have been more perfect or more fun. Hell, I laughed so much my face hurt Sunday morning.

Bet you're sorry ya missed it, huh?

Oh. And yea. We got a clean knife for the rest of the cake. heh