Minimal Sass | Bridal Shower #1
Denise
-- the gorgeous blond in the middle --
is getting married.
And I am OVER-THE-MOON excited.
Michelle, the other gorgeous blonde in the photo
is one of my other very favorite people on the planet.
The gorgeous brunette on the right?
That's me.
HA.
Couldn't resist.
Yay for decades-old friendship.
Before I forget,
here's Denise and Paul
so you have a visual for their together cuteness.
So this past weekend was the
'first bridal shower'
chapter of Denise and Paul's love story
and I have to say,
it did NOT disappoint.
Delightful venue.
Beautiful reunion for Denise with her former
friends and teachers and staff
( Denise was a principal at a school up in Milwaukee a decade ago)
Amazing gifts.
I keep telling Denise I could
use some fancy new linens
and a couple of groovy cake pedestal stands
if she could somehow work those into her
registry.
She's not going for it.
Something about 'that doesn't seem right.'
Whatever.
Below, gorgeous mother-of-the-bride.
Love this lady.
Denise's dear friend Sharon.
Below the lovely shower hosts, Rhea and Barb.
Closing out the shower was a meaningful time of prayer,
touching us all.
My personal fave.
A lovely, LOVELY day
to celebrate our Denise.
I have so many dear, DEAR friends.
Precious friends around the globe.
Closer-than-close friends nearby.
I often stand back and shake my head and
wonder how on earth I gathered up so
many quality, amazing friends to call my own.
And yet, if someone had a gun to my head
{ And let's just hope THAT never happens.
Gun to the head.
MERCY.
Where did that come from? }
and said you must pick your very best friend that's a girl,
I'd have to say it is Denise.
She is my dearest friend.
She knows me.
She knows my stuff.
My issues.
My insecurities.
My flaws.
My bad habits.
And yet she still loves me.
How cool is THAT?
She and I have those
"this goes to the grave with you secrets."
We've done decades of life together,
the good holding hands with the hard.
The joys and the sorrows.
{ That's her line -- ask her about it some time! }
We've celebrated life
and mourned death.
We've been in roll-over-can't-believe-we're-still-alive car accidents.
We've stayed up WAY too late into the night talking
just WAY too many times to count.
We've laughed 'til we've peed our pants.
Probably more times than we'd care to admit,
but you didn't hear that from me.
That might have been one of those
'take this to the grave things'
that I was supposed to, well,
take to the grave.
I think I'm technically Dr. Clark,
because, well,
I swear I'm the one that actually got her into her
doctorate internship
so I feel like I earned my Doctorate from Wheaton, too.
She drops everything to help.
Always.
She gives more than anyone else I know,
and I know a lot of giving folk.
She's a psychologist,
which is a real nice feature for me,
because them there folk are expensive, ya here?
But when she's your bff you can
sneak in some free sessions
over breakfast.
She's Aunt Denise to my kids.
In fact, Jackson really thinks she is
actually related.
As in, I think he thinks we're sisters.
I tried to explain it recently and he just
shook his head and said something along the lines of
"That's not making sense, Mom.
She IS my aunt."
I let it go.
Because she is.
And so,
this is a season of celebration.
Celebrating my gorgeous,
giving,
relational,
prayer warrior,
amazingly talented,
FAITHFUL,
LOYAL,
and EXTREMELY funny
friend.
Love these two.
Below, sisters and mom.
We've been told that come wedding day
-- eleven, fifteen, fourteen --
we need to keep sass to a minimum.
We, as in, the three of us,
and the other bridesmaids too.
Not sure why.
Sister Diana was outright told minimum sass on the wedding day.
Michelle and I were lumped into Diana's
'minimum sass'category because, well,
she knows our propensity toward sass.
Diana, THIS might be why?
Or maybe this?
I have NO idea what they're doing above.
None whatsoever.
But it makes me giggle.
And it seems wrong.
So I had to include it.
This, below,
is what we need to see more of on
eleven-fifteen-fourteen,
Diana.
And so, we will strive for
minimal sass.
That doesn't seem fair of the bride to ask,
nor does it seem like something we're going to be
able to accomplish.
But we might try.
Maybe.
I mean, she is the bride and all.
I suppose I can commit us to minimal sass during the ceremony.
And that's all I promise.
Before and afterwards?
Fair game.
In the meantime,
soak in every SECOND of celebration, Denise.
You are loved and treasured by MANY.