Wedding Week: Day One

SATURDAY:

I've never experienced a Wedding Week before. What should the Mother of the Bride be doing?

I can tell you what I did today, Day One:  I drove across Kansas.  I listened to lots of radio.  I could have listened to audio books and CDs, but I was deep in thought for 7.5 hours, and the time was fleeting for me.  In fact, I was planning to stop at hour 4, but as deep in thought as I was, I drove right past The Oasis.  (Only a Kansan would recognize this landmark.)

Now, you might think I was deep in thought about the upcoming wedding and all.  Those thoughts came to mind periodically.  I was more caught up in the Higgs Boson, and politics, and just what on earth would I do if I won millions in some lottery?  And Cambodian dating traditions.  The Olympics?  (Boy, is there a critique mulling in my head on that one...stay tuned, after Wedding Week.)  I thought about what I would enjoy if I were First Lady.  (I would enjoy a lot.)  I thought about clouds and antelope, and prairie dogs.  I thought a lot about those people in their covered wagons, traveling across Kansas on their way to the unknown.  Why in the world did some of them stop in the flat wasteland of western Kansas?  Did they just give up?

I thought about my daughter's engagement, back in January.  It was to be back in December.  The boyfriend had called us parents to let us know his plans:  (I should back up: he had already talked to that Spouse o' Mine a month or two prior, announcing his intentions.  I love that he did that.)  His plans in December were to put Claire on a plane home to Kansas for the holidays, and immediately hop in his car and drive to Kansas, and surprise her with his proposal. Ain't love grand?

Well.  It did not happen that way.  As soon as he arrived at our house, we waved him upstairs to her room: she was ill: the flu.  No proposal that evening.  The following day: still sick.  Hoo, boy, she looked dandy, lying on our couch feverish and wrapped in blankets.  Poor Rich - he was seeing "in sickness..." even before it was his time!  It was pretty awful.  Finally, a few days later, Claire came out of her flu symptoms, and thankfully she looked terrific the evening Rich finally could take her to a nice restaurant and proposed - the night before he had to return to Virginia bright and early the next morning.

And now, six months later, we are HERE!  Wedding Week!

What fun, what fun.

SUNDAY:

I stayed in Denver after my drive across Kansas.  That was delightful!  I took a hotel room not too far from the Denver airport, but in an area which had good shopping and restaurants.  I made the most of it!  I enjoyed Thai food all by my lonesome, and a walk around the area, and finally, some late-night TV.  The next morning I headed to the airport to pick up two daughters!  After we all three met up (a 45-minute foray into the ridiculous DEN airport traffic and regulations), we gaily headed west to the mountains...