She's Getting Married

As friends of mine prepare for their weddings, thoughts and memories flood through my mind. Thoughts of, "How can we be this old?" and "remember when we dreamed about this day?" It's fun to have known someone for a long time.

When I was little,  my best friends were my cousin Morgan, just ten months younger than I am, and my little sister. Grandmama called us her "Big Three" because, if you couldn't guess, we were the three eldest grandchildren. We're still referred to in that way.

We played for hours on the boat parked in Granddaddy and Grandmama's garage, pretending we lived on it and making wonderful messes that would frustrate the adults to no end. We played tea party, played in pluff mud, jumped off docks, had "art galleries" (featuring our own original creations), went crabbing and shrimping, watched Mary Kate and Ashley videos and played together all the time.

Best of all, we played dress up. There was a drawer full to the brim of old ballet attire, old dresses cut down so that we could put them on and still walk, costume jewelry, jelly shoes. We adorned ourselves in fantastic outfits.

And then we would find things to play all dressed up. One of our favorites was "wedding". We didn't have any boy cousins (until my brother came along), so we pretended that one of us was the bride and another, the groom.

I remember that Morgan wanted to be the bride - the bride always wore better clothes - but since I was the oldest, I usually decided that I would be the bride, Morgan the groom. I'm not sure what Becca was - maybe the best man?

Well, this week, Morgan gets her wish. But it isn't pretend this time. Instead of a walk down Grandmama's hallway in a too-big cut-down bridesmaid's dress, she'll walk down an aisle in a white dress that fits her like a glove. She'll be beautiful. She'll be a bride. It will be real and perfect.

It is wonderful to see my friend and cousin enter into this stage of life. I am thrilled that I'll get to witness her transition from Miss to Mrs. I am thrilled that she has met a person who loves and cares for her in the way that she deserves. I am happy to see her find a man who is worthy of her.

This is a happy week, filled with memories of the years we spent together and reminders that though distance and years have changed our relationship, there's still so much that has yet to happen.

Congrats, Morgan.

This was the best I could do - so nice to be out of those years.