Desert Magnolia

The Big Event happened. Three days ago, after much anticipation, countless checklists, a multitude of fine adjustments...my baby girl got married. We cooked, we served, we mingled, we primped and prepared, we embraced the whirlwind of activity surrounding the Day. There was hair doing, makeup applying, dress steaming, adjusting, perfuming, perfecting. Along the way were moments...of extreme awareness, high emotion, gratitude, joy...the Day was intense. And something I am reliving in the days beyond. It was perfect. All of it. The weather, which had threatened to disrupt things right around ceremony time, calmed. Threatening clouds uttered final thunder rumbles, then softly dissipated over the mountain, almost like an invisible force field/protective bubble was around the venue. The clouds made it cooler than it could have been/should have been, and for that we were grateful. The lighting was perfect..magical, in many ways, and allowed for some gorgeous photos to be taken...

In 5 days my baby girl will be getting married. In 2 days she, her fiance and their besties will be arriving. In 1 day I will need to have baked 6 quiches of different flavors for the brunch on Sunday. In 3 days I will have baked enough brownies to satisfy the sweet cravings of an army   a rehearsal dinner crowd. In 3 days I will have made enough lemon bars to do the same. In 15 minutes my next patient, then my last patient of the day, arrive. Just 2 hours ago my Mom came into clinic for a tuneup treatment and left 'feeling like she was walking on a cloud'. In 2 days I will, upon closing my clinic day, get my Mother of the Bride Mani/Pedi on my way home. In 3 days our little family and the groom's little family will enjoy cocktails and appetizers on our patio followed by dinner at a lovely, lovely restaurant in the valley to celebrate Father of the Groom's 60th birthday. In 4 days we will be loading a host of vehicles with the necessities to throw th...

I spent a significant amount of the last 20+ years driving people around. Kids to events, practices, meets, etc., and often this driving turned into trips, or very very long driving stints to out-of-town tournaments and cross country meets. Granted, some of the best conversations I had with my kids, during their teen years in particular, I had in the car on the way to somewhere. When baby girl got her drivers license, this all changed. Which was good! I worried about her being out there and I worried about other dumb drivers and I worried about her propensity for texting and I worried a lot. But I wasn't driving when I was worrying. Fast forward 2.5 years. After a relatively quiescent period for schlepping, and much smaller gasoline tabs, to boot, I find myself on ground support duty for my husband and his buddies. Who hike every Saturday. Every Saturday. Usually I'm on pickup, so when they pop out onto a trailhead after a hard day's hiking I'm there...and all ...

For no specific reason I awoke a little cranky today. Contributing factors may have included: Tipper Ann insisting on perching on my hip while I was curled up in a fetal position. That doesn't work well for several reasons, including that she is heavy, and that she keeps readjusting so that she doesn't fall off. So nobody really gets any sleep; GG watching a movie late last night, thinking the sound was down low but really it wasn't and I wasn't in the mood to get up and ask him nicely to turn it down a little so that those of us who had to get up and work today could sleep. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have come off as nice or supportive at that point, so I opted to just not go there; GG coming into bed around midnight after his movie was over and waking me out of a sound sleep. And waking up Tipper Ann, who, after getting up for a snack, decided that then would be a perfect time to give herself a (loud) tongue bath which took forever if you were me; G...

You don't really need to answer the What is wrong with me question, as it was sort of rhetorical. Anyway, this was a big anniversary for GG and me, but it was definitely impacted by the reality that our baby girl was having surgery the next week. We had a quiet but lovely celebration, or celebrations, actually, and he outdid himself. Totally. This was our 25th anniversary. A big one, actually. Really big. In our time together we have loved deeply, fought heartily, and raised two amazing human beings. Raising children is interesting because what really happens is as they're growing up, you are too. There are no manuals for raising babies. And every one is different, so even if you think you know what you're doing with your first one, it's all bets are off for the next one. Seriously, our children couldn't be more different in terms of personality and general approach to life. Yet somehow, in spite of us, they have both grown up to be solid, caring, motivat...