Ch-Ch-Changes

Boy, things have been really busy the last two weeks. Our daughter got married on Sept. 27, so things were in a turmoil. Actually, it went well. They'd been planning for a year. But when you get down to the last few weeks, you start worrying about things you may have forgotten, waking in the middle of the night for no good reason, and yawning all day. The wedding was beautiful. All the women went to the hairdressers to get beautiful - a real Steel Magnolias morning. Everyone cried through the ceremony. The flower girl and ring bearer waited until after the ceremony to throw up. Some stomach thing was going around. What more could the mother of the bride ask?

Bad things usually come in threes, and our three bad things weren't too bad. Hurricane Ike blew through two weeks before, and although my daughter and son lost power, we were OK at our house. Our sister in Houston didn't get to come due to looting and no power though. The groom's father was in ICU during the first part of September, but attended the wedding. Hooray! My car was in an accident the week of the wedding, and since it was eight years old anyway, the insurance company just wrote us a check. So I now have a new son-in-law, a new car, a new camera, and a new cell phone.

The moon is in its Cheshire Cat phase right now, in a clear fall sky. I couldn't resist going for some sunset/moonrise photos at the Falls of the Ohio. After all the recent stress, it was great to relax and calm down with a little moon watching.

Sunset on the Rocks

Summer is winding down. It's been dry, and the trees look like they are ready for autumn already. The cottonwoods are surrounded by layers of dead crunchy leaves on the ground. The river at the fossil beds is lower than it was last year, which was lower than the year before.

When we returned from vacation in North Carolina, someone asked how things are going... What a mistake that was! Coming back to work after vacation...bummer.

Our daughter is getting married on September 27, now less than a month away. She's moving out of her old apartment this weekend. We have volunteer things we both want to do, but the wedding is more important this month. Try to squeeze it all in somehow. Pick up the clutter so the cleaning crew can find the floor. Where will we put all that STUFF in the bedroom/warehouse? Make sure we send checks to everyone who needs money for wedding services. (My wedding wasn't this complex, was it?)

Can't even have a nice glass of wine to ease the tension. The calories from wine take 2-3 days to work off, and I've been so good about losing 30 pounds in the last 5 months. Oh, transportation on the day of the wedding...who can drive? It isn't far enough to be worth the cost of limos. The new in-laws have health issues ... hope nothing bad happens. Brunch the day after the wedding... how many can come? Special dietary requirements? When can I shop/prepare for this? The person I thought could cook can't due to other obligations.

We are going to Gulf Shores in October, and the kids are taking a cruise to the Caribbean for their honeymoon. Please God, let there be no hurricanes! Dick goes to Portland for an Interpreters convention in November, and I think he goes someplace else the first part of September. THEN it will be Christmas fer cryin' out loud! In January we plan to go to Wings over Wilcox, a birding festival near Tucson, that I'm really looking forward to.

I told my boss I need about 4 months off. I'm too busy to come to work. She thought I was joking. Yeah, right. ARGGHHH!! If my daughter is reading this,

it's OK Sweetie, I'm not really freaking out on you. I'll be your calm,reliable, in control Mom, until Monday after the wedding. Then I'll collapse. May need to take a personal day to recover.

I really need some quality time with my husband, and the birds and my camera. Just keep looking at those sunset pictures. You will survive this. They will be married. Everything will be OK.