Forty years ago--oh, my, yes, 40! -- DH and his parents and brothers were rounding up their cattle that had escaped from their fenced field that afternoon.
It wasn't the usual Friday evening on the farm. They had all intended to be at our wedding rehearsal. 260 miles away. A 5-hour drive in "the good old days." (But nobody had clued the cattle in to those plans.)
It was quite an evening at the church. DH's sister (wife of our officiating pastor) got the phone call that they would all be "a bit late." Thankfully, they all still made it that evening, cleaned up and smelling good!
Another phone call came in that our musicians (cousin Gary and his friends) had had a minor car accident and wouldn't make it at all to rehearsal. Thankfully they weren't hurt!
The following day was the HOTTEST day of the year. An early morning rain made the afternoon and evening steamy. I got the scissors out to start some major alterations on my wedding gown -- thinking "this needs to be cooler!" That didn't happen. Mom grabbed and hid the scissors and locked the room to the sewing machine.
Our musicians and family and friends came from near and far and celebrated with us. Somehow everyone grinned and bore the horrible heat, drank a lot of punch, and used many fans. (In the good old days ... you know where I'm going with this ... we didn't have AC!) The cake started to lean a bit, but we all ate it as fast as possible.
The glitches of the day began after the ceremony and reception.
The groomsmen and a few other creative friends had decorated and hid our car along a creek bed to prevent any bad potato-in-the-exhaust pipe tricks or disconnected wires under the hood. With the 99.9% humidity that evening, they couldn't get the car back up the grassy hill--it was a true slip 'n' slide--not a great idea, guys!
So we agreed to take DH's parents' car for our first night away. Little did we think to fetch our luggage from OUR car's trunk. So we got to our destination 25 miles away where we enjoyed the room with AC -- but had to beg for toothbrushes and toothpaste at the front desk. We were so, so young (it's a wonder we could get a license!) and so, so naive!
The next morning we donned our going away outfits and called them "coming back" outfits, and drove back to retrieve our car so we could begin our honeymoon travels.
What memories!
This year we're enjoying a rehearsal evening at home with these treats from our DD and SIL.
Tomorrow we'll be renewing our vows on the church lawn in the heat of the summer evening. To the music of cicadas.
