We're in the final week of our A to Z Blog Challenge and as always I'll be limping across the finish line. Since it's Monday there will be a weekend recap (with Holly and Sarah) along with my letter post on the blog today.
There's a lot going on here this week and I'm trying to be a 'one-day-at-a timer' but it's hard not to look at the very long list in front of me. That list includes some things that will be emotionally draining and physically demanding but we can do hard things, right?
Right!
The weekend.
Friday I had lunch with three friends from my old Bible Study group. We hadn't seen one another in several months and it was wonderful to catch up. Lunch was served on one friend's beautiful back porch and everyone contributed something to keep it simple. These ladies have been, and continue to be, such a blessing to me.
I played Mah Jong at a neighbor's house later in the afternoon.
Before I left my house that morning I made a big pot of sauce, and when I finally arrived home around dinnertime I congratulated myself for thinking ahead. Hubs had out of town real estate clients in all weekend so he was gone from dawn to dusk too.
Saturday we sipped our coffee with the sunrise, then hubs was out the door early for another day with his house hunters. I had some errands to run in town so made the loop and was home about one. I spent the afternoon getting things ready for my mom's move. I am not going down that road on the blog today, but I'm sure will eventually gather my thoughts and put them in writing.
We had plans Saturday night to celebrate a friend's birthday in our neighborhood clubhouse. The menu was tacos and margaritas and a delicious homemade cake baked by another neighbor. A fun night spent chatting and catching up with friends.
Sunday morning we went to church, then hubs and I stopped at Waffle House for a late breakfast. We needed energy for the afternoon's activity aka porch cleaning. Honestly we have had so much going on this past month we have not gotten to this dreaded but very necessary task.
The pollen sits about an inch deep so all the porches and decking and outdoor furniture need to be hosed down and cleaned. We roll up our outdoor rugs during pollen season so they needed to be put back outside. Hubs operated the power washer and I had the tedious job of wiping down all the deck railings and spindles. We have over 200 spindles, not that anyone is counting, but yeah. It's a lot.
And you have to keep changing the soapy water out because it turns black very quickly.
But! we're getting there! The upper deck and the screened porch are mostly done and he made a good start on the lower level patio and dining space. Still more to do, plus there's also the boat to clean, (well for hubs to clean) but we're making forward progress and we can once again enjoy our favorite thing about this house, which is the outside space. Cheers to summer porch sittin'!
I still need new pillows for the deck sofa and a few more flower pots but that will happen soon. Not this week though because this week is already a doozy.
Now for today's letter which continues my theme of The Things We Keep: Ordinary Objects From A-Z.
Day 23-W is for Wedding Dresses
Do you still have your wedding dress? When we returned from our honeymoon I took my dress to the local dry cleaners and they boxed it up in that fancy way dry cleaners do to keep it from yellowing through the years.
You hope. I mean I wasn't even certain it was my dress in that box but we trusted the cleaners. I don't know if in 1984 I dreamed of having a daughter who might wear it someday, but I wasn't ready to part with it either. Into the box it went.
From there it moved with us umpteen times, always in the unopened box. There it remained for 30 years, until in 2014 daughter1 was engaged to be married and thought she might like to try it on. I have a picture of her in it somewhere but I can't put my hands on it right now. Anyway...
She actually loved the idea of having the dress reworked and made to look a little less 80's bride, but logistics were not in our favor. I was in one state, she was in another, and the wedding was in a third so it all felt like an additional stress we didn't need.
She found a dress that looked like it had been made just for her and she spun and twirled and smiled from the moment she put it on until she and her brand new husband left the reception.
My dress went back into the box, and then a few years went by and now daughter2 is getting married and she took a turn trying it on too.
Not 80's at all-ha! However Daughter2 had already fallen in love with a dress we'd seen in a fashion show so that was that.
But! I heard about a company that made dressing gowns/robes from wedding dresses and I decided to surprise daughter2 with a gift for Christmas before her January wedding. I had my wedding dress made into a getting ready robe for her and it turned out beautifully.
She was, quite literally, overcome with emotion when she saw it.
I wrote about it here (Let's Review) so I won't recap again, but suffice it to say I might never give another gift that lands as perfectly as this one did.
And now here we are with one daughter married ten years and one married five, yet somehow we have their wedding dresses in our storage area. These boxes are not small either.
Question-why did I tote my wedding gown from pillar to post but my girls dresses have stayed with me? I'm thinking I should hand them over and they can decide what they'd like to do with their gowns.
They both have tiny daughters so maybe someday I'll get to see granddaughters walking down the aisle looking every bit as beautiful as their mommas.
That makes them worth keeping.
