BACK TO THE LISTS!

Planning our wedding was soooo much fun! 

I totally and completely loved every minute of it!

Unfortunately, we found out that Odell's oldest daughter, Sally,
wouldn't be able to make it all the way from Bakersfield.
We knew how much she really wanted to be there, but it was becoming impossible for her to get away from the J.O.B.!
We were disappointed!
It wasn't fair.
For us, but also for her.
However that is life.
And at times life has a tendency to not play fair.
We would understand and move on.
Except now I would need another bridesmaid.

Thankfully, this ended up being an easy one!
Ben's wife, Stephanie, graciously agreed to step in for Sally.

So. . .I now had my four attendants to stand up with me.
My two daughters, my future daughter, and my future daughter-in-law.
Meanwhile, my two sons, along with Odell's son and son in law
would stand up with my amazing husband to be!

Moving right along. . .
Could hardly believe this was coming along so easily.

Candlelighters?
Okay, traditionally, most brides have young
neices or nephews to perform this honor.
Who says we have to always stick with tradition?
Instead, we asked Odell's son, Ben, as well as his son-in-law, Jeff  to light the candles.
We could find no rules that say attendants can't light candles, too!

This would be good.  No short little people (precious as they are)
struggling to reach the top of the tall candelabras.
And, perhaps, knocking one over and setting the platform on fire!
Goodness!  I couldn't even allow my mind to go there!

Ahhh. . .now the really sweet part!
My first granddaughter, Stacee, would be my pretty little flower girl.

She would walk in beside my grandson, Kagen, who would be our handsome little ring bearer.
My heart was so full.
And so happy!
This just may be all the excitement a girl can take in one day.

I think I'll wait until tomorrow to walk down memory lane any further.


After all there was still much to do.
We hadn't even begun to select the music!

List # 4
*Attendants
*Candlelighters
*Flower Girl
*Ring Bearer

DONE.
Wow!  Perhaps I should consider doing this professionally?
Or not.
I always did have a tendency to get carried away by complete and total happiness!

Ok, so I wouldn't look into wedding planning as a future career, but it was hard not to feel a sense of
satisfaction as I watched everything fall almost perfectly into place.

STEPPING BACK JUST A LITTLE...

During the wonderful days that Odell and I knew we were falling in love
And before the beautiful day he asked me to be his wife,
He wanted me to meet his other two grown children.
And their respective families.

Shari is Odell's youngest daughter.
We went to her home so that I could meet her, her husband,

and their two precious children.

Shari was very receptive to meeting her dad's girl.
That would be me, of course!
And as you know by now
I am and always was so proud to be his girl!
We stayed awhile and really enjoyed our time with them.
I was looking forward to being a part of my guy's family.
Not long after, I met Odell's only son, Ben.
Along with Ben's wife and their four sweet children.
It didn't take long for me to see a definite likeness

between Ben and my guy!

(There aren't a lot of pictures of Ben.
But as you can see in both pictures
Avoiding the spotlight 
And the camera flash
Is pretty important.)

There was no doubt I loved my amazing Odell!
Now I would look so forward to loving his
three children and all the grandchildren.


I was ready to officially become a part of this family.
I just knew a proposal was about to happen any day.

And I could hardly wait!

BRING ON THE ROSES!

I love roses!
And yellow roses are my favorite!
But then, pink is so pretty, too.
Ok, pink and yellow.
Yes, definitely.
I think so.
Yes. Pretty sure.

Have I mentioned that I have a problem making decisions?
My oldest daughter tells me it's because I'm a middle child.
She just may be right.  I don't know.
Can't decide.

All I know is that I'm the last to order at a tupperware party.
AND I am usually the last to order at a restaurant.

I have even been known to change my order a few times.
When someone else's order sounds better than mine!

My dear Odell would often. . .
occasionally and affectionately, call me 'Lucy'.
If you're an  I Love Lucy fan, it will make sense.
If you aren't, just trust me on this one.
Lucy had difficulty deciding what to order when they
were at a restaurant with their sidekicks, Fred and Ethel.
It was quite hilarious!

So, here I am, the wedding planner, facing so many
choices and ultimate decisions.
They just had to be the perfect flowers.
For our perfect wedding!


As I was daydreaming about this part of my list
A very dear friend of mine called.
She told me she would be honored if I would
allow her to take care of the flowers.

My goodness!  Of course I would!
Actually, it would give me great pleasure
to honor my friend.

She told me to just choose my colors and she would take it from there.
I could definitely probably do that.
Actually, that decision was the easiest.

Pink.

And Yellow.

And Ivory for my bridal bouquet.
There. Colors chosen.
Whew!

LIST #3


*Flowers
There's the star.
Done.
Now on to other things. . .

I breathed a sigh of relief and happy contentment.
I was feeling good and just a wee bit proud of myself!
A decision had been made.
No more second guessing that.
There is at least one decision I knew I would never second guess.

That would be the decision to love Odell Edwards with all my heart!

(many smiles and sighs here)

IT'S LIST TIME!

Did I say lists?  Have I mentioned yet that I am
and always have been a list freak?
Actually, I have always thought of myself as a list person.
It sounds. . .I don't know. . . nicer?
This wedding planner will definitely have a lot of these lists!
Lists for this.  Lists for that.
Lists for this AND that.
Lists to remind myself to make new lists for this and that.
You get the gist, right?
LISTS!




LIST #1
*Engaged and have the guy and the beautiful ring to prove it.
*Have met at least some members of respective families.
*Have blessings from said members.
*Have set the date of April 2, 1999.
*Have taken out second mortgage on my guy's house
  to pay for having wedding in the chapel we love.

LIST #2


 Wedding gown

Notice there is no star beside this one.
That's because I don't have a wedding gown yet.
Correction: I do have my first gown
hanging in my first mother-in-law's
spare bedroom closet.  Which no longer fits me!

Now it's time to shop for a dream wedding gown.
One to wear when I marry this truly amazing man.
The man I have fallen head over heels
in love with.

Bridal Shops offered a few gowns in plus sizes.
I tried on some really lovely ones in fact.
Unfortunately, some of these lovely gowns
were more lovely on their hangers!
Then I had an incredibly sweet offer from my Dad's wife.
She said she would love to make my wedding gown.
Wow!  How sweet is that?
I definitely took her up on her generous offer.
I began shopping the next day for the perfect fabrics and lace.
It had to be perfect!

Perfect for my guy.

THE WEDDING PLANNER

That would be me.  Of course.
I had all the time in the world.
By now, I was jobless.
As my guy loved to say

I was a lady of leisure!

About a week after leaving one of the
three jobs I was working,
(actually, TWO), I had left the other, as well.

And it felt so good!
Odell truly didn't mind.  Actually he was happy about it.
No matter how much he had teased about him being able
to stop working soon.
I knew he was really glad! The truth is
He would have gone crazy sitting around.
Doing nothing.  Letting me bring home the bacon.
That was definitely not my guy!

I was really and truly ready to devote my time to being the wedding planner.
And plan I did!
I was up early every morning.  Usually not my cup of tea!
But here I was enjoying every minute of it!



However, before I could really get down to all the planning details,
My guy had something else in mind.
He wanted to take me to the chapel he had
shown me the night we came back from Arkansas.
Remember?  When he met my Dad and asked
his permission to marry his daughter.

I had fallen in love at first sight when I saw this
little wedding chapel.
Now he wanted to take me there so we could
reserve it for our wedding day.

Sounds great to me!  The rest of the plans could be put off another day.
No problem!
And, after signing a very detailed contract,
My generous guy wrote a pretty generous check
For the privilege of being married in this lovely place!

We drove away feeling really excited!
Really broke.
And really excited!

I was so impressed with this man I loved so much.
He didn't even flinch when the nice lady told him
how much to write the check for.
I had no illusions that I was marrying a wealthy man.
Just a loving, generous man who enjoyed spending
money on his girl!

I knew I could really get used to this! (sigh).

REFLECTIONS...

I recently paused from our story to reflect on
our wedding anniversary.

Today is May 1, 2011.
A very sad and significant day

Please indulge me once more as I remember.
One year ago today I had to say goodbye to my dearest husband.
The love of my life!

I wonder in my heart how it can possibly be a year...
Yet feel like it happened yesterday?
At the same time...
How can it feel like it just happened...
And also feel like it's been forever?

Forever since I looked into those beautiful blue eyes.
And told him how much I loved him.
Forever since I gazed on that endearing smile.
And heard the words from him every day,
'I love you, too, honey.'
Forever since I felt his touch.
His wonderful touch.

Or heard his amazing laugh.
I loved his laugh.
It was so warm. So contagious!
You simply couldn't be around Odell and not laugh with him.

Forever since I watched the joy on his face
as he held one of our beautiful grandchildren.

These are only a very few of the
countless things I miss.




That I will always miss.
Until one day when I am in those strong arms again.

Thank you for letting me share with you, my new friends and dear readers,
some of my thoughts, smiles, and tears.

Tomorrow his girl will continue writing more of our love story. 

THIS IS SALLY!

Finally!  I am privileged to meet Odell's daughter, his first born.

Sally flew in from Bakersfield, California, and she and her dad
arranged for us to meet at a Village Inn.

When I first saw Sally, my thoughts were that she looked like
a really sweet and lovely young lady.
Just slightly reserved, and perhaps a bit nervous.
Shy.

It was interesting watching her interact so openly with her Dad.
They laughed a lot together.
It was obvious to see that they had a really special relationship.

This was good.  It's the way I am with my own children.

As the evening progressed, I felt drawn in, also.
I felt a bond developing with Sally.
This girl really loved her dad.
I knew she was being protective of him.
She had to know I was right for him.
Sound familiar?
Remember Christy?? (smile)

Odell and I joked a lot around his daughter.
I could tell she liked our interaction together.
She made a comment that I believe I mentioned earlier...
She said very profoundly,
'Dad, I'm glad you finally met your match!'


I knew I loved Sally from that moment on!