Expectations

Yesterday, my husband's long time friend got married in a beautiful ceremony next to the lake.

SI

DD

(For those of you who are unaware, Chicago is an extremely beautiful place.)

She very bravely asked my daughters to be the flower girls at her wedding.

Of course, I said yes.  But I confess, as the day drew closer, I began to have my doubts.  DD had started getting stranger anxiety.  SI has more and more of a stubborn streak that absolutely refuses to be tamed.  And, after all, they aren't even two years old yet.

She told me that her only hope was that the girls would be adorable as they either made their way down the aisle, or they didn't.

It sounds simple enough, but I began to fear that I was going to be responsible for single handedly ruining the most important day in the life of a friend.

SI

DD

Really, I shouldn't have worried.  The girls behaved exactly as I expected.  DD walked slowly down the aisle, carrying her little ball of flowers and bashfully smiling and waving to everyone.  When she caught sight of me (holding a new baby doll) at the end of the aisle, she took of running and laughing.  Everybody laughed with her.

SI only made it halfway down the aisle when she realized that she DID want to carry those flowers she'd been refusing, and ran back again to get them.  Then, flowers in hand, she oh so slowly made her way down the aisle.  Also smiling nervously, and looking at all the strangers who seemed so happy to see her.  When she figured out where I was- again with a baby doll for her- she also took off running.  All the wedding guests laughed and smiled, and she sat down with me to cuddle her doll and eat a cracker while the absolutely stunning bride walked down the aisle, beaming.

DD

The ceremony was perfect.  The reception was a blast.  M may have completely thrown my neck out with the ferocity of his swing dips during a few tunes.  We danced until we just couldn't dance any more, rested up a bit, and danced again.

The newlyweds?  I have been to a lot of weddings in these last few years (M's gigantic family of cousins are all at marrying-off age and our friends are pairing off like mad), and I don't know that I've ever seen two people more perfectly matched.  I think that they could have been getting married on a sinking ship and still have been grinning at each other the entire night.  I really truly couldn't be happier for them.

...and the girls?  They went home to play with three of their grandparents during the reception.

It was wonderful.

SI

I guess the moral is that you should always trust that your kids will rise to your expectations.  After all, even if they don't... at least what you ask of them is their best.  Their best behavior, their best efforts, their best attitude...  And learning to always be your best is something that we can all benefit from.

Particularly when it comes to dancing.  Good lord, I feel like I've been strapped to a rack and then hit with a truck.

Also: my feet?  Swollen like a pregnant lady at 42 weeks.  It's lovely.

So now that I have those extremely unpleasant images in your head, I think I'll leave you with these lovely pictures and just go lay down on a bed of ice for a while...

SI and DD