Ann and I were in the front yard of her mother's home, down on our hands and knees, pulling weeds. Not something I enjoy doing but I love spending time with my cousin/BFF. She is the sweetest soul, funny, smart and we share the same birthday. I however am older which she is very quick to remind me of! hahaha
I sat up on my heels, wiped the sweat from my brow as I looked over at Ann all hunched over the dirt and blurted out... SO, do you want to be my maid of honor?
She jerked up straight, looked at me, eyes big as saucers, jaw hanging slack and then it came. She squealed loud enough to be heard a mile away. I laughed so loud and hard I almost fell over!
Ann said "ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? OMGosh YES, yes yes yes!"
She leaped across the dirt and landed smack dab on me, squishing me with tons of hugs. We were both laughing and crying at the same time. It was the most elated and alive I had felt in years, except of course when he said "will you marry me".
We sat there in the front yard, all dirty and sweaty, talking details until our old bones could barely move.
When I stood up, I looked down and there was a big ol'scrape on my knee, no wonder it was burning. I said, "your momma's gonna need to find me a band aid, look what you did!" and we both laughed again.
While inside the house that afternoon, one by one, family stopped by. This is normal. Our family is deeply rooted and connected to each other. We spend most weekends together and when one rejoices, we all rejoice and when one is sad, we all gather our shotguns and go after the SOB that hurt our family. Just kidding, verbally we may attack the snot out of them but we are not violent women at all. During the visits there were lots of shocked faces, tears flowed like a leaky faucet and even a few squeals but nothing like the one Ann let out earlier. My cup over-floweth! My heart was bursting at the seems and this I thought, was how it is supposed to be.
Sheree asked about my friends, won't they be upset that one of them is not the maid of honor?
I sat and thought for a minute and replied, "No. They know how close Ann and I are, they are all very happy for me and thrilled to be guest. I might have a few acquaintances that I'll have to let them down easy but I wouldn't choose them anyway. It will be fine, besides, my day, my choice right?"
Ann pipes up and says "That's right! They'll get over it because I'M standing up with my BFF!!" Everyone laughed and took a sip of tea sweet enough to rot your teeth.
Today's words are: Maid of honor ~ Let them down easy ~ Band Aid ~ Weeds
This short story is in part fiction. I am getting married on the 14th, so in just a few short days. Ann is my cousin and will be my maid of honor. She did squeal like a stuck pig on slaughter day but the rest is intermingled with truth and fiction. Hope you enjoyed it. I am truly blessed and no Jules had no idea! Which makes this all the more touching to me.
Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.
At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them.
Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:
