Now just a little background on this event. My sister got married on a Friday night at 7:00pm. It was a "winter/Christmas" wedding. She had an amazing (and I mean AMAZING) white velvet wedding dress with fur trim. Our bridesmaid dresses were Burgundy velvet and we carried a white fur muff with roses pinned on. My sister had this amazing "frozen" ice punch bowl that had roses inside of the ice. Here's the part that caused me to remember this event TODAY! It was VERY COLD that night. Like below zero cold - in St. Paul Minnesota. And it had already snowed quite a bit so there was ice and snow all over. The temperature this morning when I left for work was 4 degrees with a wind chill of -15. And I spent my drive to work thinking about my sisters wedding.
The story that my mom loved to tell about the day of my sister's wedding was what happened AFTER the wedding. My sister got married in an old church on the east side of St. Paul. There was only street parking- no parking lot and we had to park several blocks from the church. We were in charge of taking all of the wedding gifts from the "gift room" at the church and then delivering them to my sisters apartment. Somehow my mom and I got left at the church to do this job. My dad and brothers went home to welcome the guests that were gathering there after the wedding ended. I don't know why things worked out this way, but they did! So it was my mom and I who carted all the gifts down 2 flights of stairs in the church and then carried them over snow covered sidewalks to be loaded in the car. After we were all loaded up, we drove to my sister's place and then began the very treacherous walk through the back yard and up an outside wooden staircase to the upstairs apartment. The steps were icy and scary. And did I mention that it was COLD..... and it was 10:00 at night???? And now for the real reason I remember this sooooooo well. I was wearing my first ever pair of high heel shoes.
And a floor length velvet dress. At some point my mom and I started laughing and we laughed until tears were running down our faces. And we continued to laugh about this event for years and years afterward. By the time we got back to our house, many friends and family were celebrating in the basement rec room. And all my mom and I could think about was taking our shoes off! Yes, it was quite a night. I am including this picture of my mom, my sister Julie and I from 2009!
I am so glad that no matter what happened, somehow we always laughed together. I am so thankful for all of the "laughing" memories I have with my mom. And I am glad that my kids shared some of these memories with us. If you ask Gwen I am sure she can recount the time that the three of us (my mom, Gwen and I) almost got thrown out of an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service because we were laughing (or should I say trying to NOT laugh). Yep, we did a lot of laughing.
So today was another day when I was missing my mom and so thankful for Gwen. And I was chuckling a little on the way home from work, just thinking about this really cold weather. Yes, it was a laughable weather day today. And now there is is "winter weather advisory" for 4 or more inches of snow overnight. Looks like tomorrow will be a "laughable" day also!
Jesus, thank you for my sister Julie and my mom and all of these amazing memories. Holy Spirit, keep on showing me all of the ways that you have been working in my life even years ago. What an amazing gift to remember and recount these treasures from the past. Jesus, help us all to listen carefully as you speak to us and help us to connect the events from the past with the things you are saying for today. What awesome and wonderful Savior you are! Amen
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