Love

This short, vibrant, delightful, emotional chapter is over.  I'll just put a bookmark here, and come back to it if the need arises in the future.  For the moment.  

For the moment.  

I feel like I should crash and burn, now.  But there is too much life to live, too much to do, too much loving and laughing and writing.  I haven't the time.  

Here are just a few favourite moments of the last five months.

Lucy and Dad.  September 12th, 2015

Mary and Dad.

May 2nd, 2015

Breann comes home healthy, July 20, 2015

A celebration of my Mom's life...me and Dad.  May 24th, 2015

Celebrating Mom.  July 17th, 2015

Mom's wedding gift to Mary and Francis, flowers from her garden.  

.Celebrating love, past, present, future.  Another beautiful bride. October 24th, 1959.

The Wedding in Words

Haaaaaaaaaaaah.  Siiiiiiiiiigh. 

The wedding was exquisite.  Beautiful, reverent, perfect.

The bride was beautiful.  The groom was handsome.

All that a wedding should be.

The reception was wonderful, too.

The hall was so lovely - linen, lace, roses, tulle, lights and candles.  The work party turned a plain hall into something like the hall of a great manor.  Talented folks.  

Food and drink service was exception and yummy, staff was courteous and professional.  

And so many hands, and so many helpers.  Family and friends, in this small way, laid down their lives for us.  For the newlyweds. They took time out of their busy schedules, out of other things they could have been doing; working, playing - all the things.  Yesterday, they laid down their lives for Lucy and Ian.  Nothing was too much to ask.

Thank you all.  On behalf of Ian and Lucy, and behalf of the Landry family, we are overwhelmed with gratitude.  

All the work, all the sacrifice, are simply small reflections of marriage.  This is what we do.  Laying down our lives, in one form or another is what we do as parents, spouses: as a community.  

We come together.

My life for yours.

Ian and Lucy, may God bless you richly, and may we continue to offer you our love and support throughout the years to come.  Our lives for each other, our lives for yours, your lives for each other.  

My life for yours.  Love lived.  An exchange of persons.

We love you both.

Snapshots coming when the bride and groom give us leave...

All The Places

We did all the things today.  Including, but not limited to, Ikea, shoe store, wedding store, dollar store, eco store, dress store, another shoe store, and some other stores.

It was super fun and we rocked all the stores and all the stuff.  Weddings require stuff.

Here are the bride and groom looking exactly like a commercial for joyous unstressed people getting married on Saturday.

We Baked All The Things

At some point, one must say to oneself, "enough."  How many baked goods can our guests consume?  Surely, we are reaching saturation point.  Anyway, it's not healthy to overindulge, am I right? 

The blobby yellow stuff will look better at the wedding.  Seriously.

So we went to Byward Market and had dinner and a storm.  

All the Things Baked, we can move on tomorrow to Getting All The Things.  That requires driving around Ottawa for five hours and stopping and parking and getting out of the car twelve times.   

Or so.  

And going for lunch probably.  

Right, Lu?

Wine and Cheese and Beautiful Brides

All brides should smile this much. Isn't she exquisite? 

We are here in Ottawa now, arrived last night for some wine and cheese at Lucy's apartment.  Tomorrow we start All The Things. 

 All The Baked Things.

Boys going off to baseball game.  So we can bake and drink coffee and talk about love and romance and marrying and napkin colours and floral arrangements in peace.  

 Six more sleeps.