Arriving Late......

It grieves me terribly to admit that I was late to the wedding.  Not late-late - I was in time for the ceremony.  But I was a full hour later than the time Citygirl told me to be there.  And I'll never be able to make that right, really.

But here is how it went:

I had asked a friend of my Mom's to come to the house to help get her ready, and I was to pick her up at 8:30 AM.  The house was packed, or I would have had her spend the night, which she typically does on Fridays anyway.  She doesn't drive and there are no early buses on Saturday, but since I only had that task and getting myself ready it shouldn't really be a problem, right? 

I called her at 8:20 to let her know I was running a little late.  She was running even later. "Could you get me about 10?"  Criminey, TEN?  Well, it is what it is, right?  And it isn't like I'm some kind of makeup freak - I can shower now and then all I'll need to do is slip my dress on. 

Mom had been showered by an aide the day before, and I got her up and tried to get her moving:  Meds, breakfast, coherency.....not going with any speed. 

People came and went needing help with one thing or another.  At some point I sent someone out to the truck with my keys to get something for somebody...it's all a blank. 

Near 10 o'clock, I went to grab my keys and leave, and.... no keys.  No problem, Hubby has keys.  But....No Hubby!  He's gone someplace for God alone only knows what reason, so I backtrack on the keys.... and call my nephew.  "J, what did you do with the keys after you got the stuff from the truck?"  "Ummm....I might have left them IN the truck."

Oh. My. God.  And Hubby has the truck.  And he is not answering his phone.  And it is now AFTER 10 and I am supposed to be home already and dressed and CRAP.   Just as I am about to have a major private meltdown my sister-in-law pulls up to the curb.  My brother had forgotten his computer and he needed it to run the sound for the wedding.  Excellent!  Please please give me a ride to pick up Mom's friend?

No problem.  Except that no one ever warned me that my sis-in-law drives like a Chihuahua on speed.  "The speed limit here is 30.  We don't have time for a ticket, you can't go 50 on a city street and OMG THAT LIGHT WAS RED AND I AM GOING TO DIE BEFORE MY DAUGHTER GETS MARRIED!"

By the time we got back home it was 10:30, the time I was supposed to be at the wedding venue.  Mom still wasn't dressed and her ride was arriving in half an hour, and I wasn't dressed and I still didn't have a ride either. 

At some point you just give up, you know?  I could either rant and rave or I could make my Mom's day pleasant, so I took my time, did her hair, got her dressed and helped her get into the van at 11.  By that time Hubby was back, and I helped him fasten his cummerbund and got into my dress. 

And then there was that one really, really bad moment, when all the stress of the morning hit:  I'd lost a little weight since I bought the dress, and I needed to pin the dress to my bra to cover a small gap.  I looked in the mirror and I just couldn't do it myself, and I started to cry, "I need Bobbe.  I just need Bobbe!"  But she's gone and she won't see my daughter or worse yet HER daughter get married and OhMYGOD Bobbe....

Thank God I'm not a makeup person.

I arrived at the museum at 11:30.  I missed the family portrait time with the photographer, so there will be very few pictures of me in that fabulous dress.  But I arrived in time to help my precious baby with a last-minute wedding-dress wardrobe malfunction that I hope helped her forgive me for adding to her stress on her special day. 

DeeDee