Have you ever spent an entire weekend reminiscing? I was lucky enough to have that experience over the past several days. My brother flew to Tulsa on Friday and I introduced him to the delicious "honey-pepper bacon burger" at Baxters. Afterwards we picked up Thumbs and drove home to Fort Smith. It has been a long time since it was just the two of us and we had a great time catching up. He gave me some early marriage tips and I tried my best to listen and not interrupt. My first watery eye experience (among many this weekend) came as soon as we were greeted at the door by our parents. I realize I'm already an emotional sap with this wedding approaching, but the last time it was just the 4 of us was over 3 years ago. It was one of those moments where you breathe easier and know everything is going to be ok. We stayed up until after 1a sharing stories and laughing.
Saturday was spent visiting my mom's friends and perusing leftover wedding decorations. We picked up several items from both Susan Echols and Lynn Horn--it was very generous of them and I'm excited to use all that they let us borrow! We also went through 15 picture albums looking for pictures of me for the rehearsal dinner video. It's a little depressing seeing so many cute pictures of Justin and so few of me! I will always believe there IS such thing as an unattractive baby and I have my own baby pictures to show you if you don't believe me! :) Justin met up with some friends on Saturday night and together they went to their 10-year-reunion. I was very anxious to hear details since I will be planning my own class reunion in 3 years! Mom and I went through an old chest looking for my parent's unity candle and we ran across their wedding album. It was great to see them looking so happy and I KNOW the feeling they had of being so anxious to begin their lives together as husband and wife. I wonder if they had any idea on their wedding day that they would still be so happy 37 years later? I know I mentioned this on our "wedding website," but it's worth mentioning again: If Michael and I experience half the joy that my parents have shared together I will feel so fortunate! I was also able to look through my own baby book filled with stories of first steps and childhood prayers. I could tell I was a very happy baby.
Sunday morning was spent listening to stories from Justin's reunion--He didn't come home until after 4a! It was neat to hear about old friends from so long ago! Some had changed dramatically while others were the exact same (perhaps with less hair or a few kids, but still the same). :)
We set up the camera on Sunday afternoon and took some pictures of the 4 of us together. The next time we take a picture like that I will be wearing my wedding dress and my last name will no longer match theirs. I think we all knew how important it was to have this weekend to spend together and cherished it we did! Please understand that I am so excited about starting my new life with Michael and I have been wishing my life away for the past 8 months so I can be married to him, but when we said goodbye and did the Besancon family "group hug" I didn't want to let go. This weekend was my chance to re-live the past 25 years and prepare myself for the next 50. It was filled with sentiment and laughter and was the "closure" I needed of being my parent's single daughter and my brother's baby sister. I drove back to Tulsa with a smile on my face.
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