Feathers?

As the Big Dubya mentions here, Aunt P married Mr Tall Guy on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day -- she was a beautiful bride.

Of course, every wedding has little glitches here & there..... some are more serious than others.... some are just down right funny.

Let me set the stage for you.... I'm 6 months pregnant.... I was asked to be Matron-of-Honor (I personally prefer the term Chief-of-Staff) before we knew I was in the family way.... once I realized that I'd be livin' large when the big day arrived, I offered to bow out gracefully. But Aunt P, always wanting to be polite, refused my offer and said a maternity bridesmaid dress would be fine with her.

The other two bridesmaids are childhood friends -- I've known these girls since they were in kindergarten and they are the sweetest things. I used to drive them to highschool, they used to visit me in college and I'd take them to keg parties...... they are really just extensions of Aunt P -- kinda like having two more little sisters.

On the Thursday before the wedding, Aunt P called to ask what I'd used as my "something blue" -- I told her that a friend had given me a blue garter, and that I'd be happy to lend it to her -- it could serve as either the "something blue" or the something "borrowed" -- she agreed and into the overnight bag it went. Once we arrived at the hotel, it turns out that the girls had gotten Aunt P a garter as well..... a cheesy one with feathers. It was a hoot and I told Aunt P she could wear theirs instead.... it had a little blue bow on it, so we could put mine away. Of course, Aunt P being diplomatic decided to wear both.

Fast forward a couple of hours.... we are standing in front of our friends, our family and a guy who's been a Catholic priest for 48 years (I'm not joking.... 48 years!). It comes time to offer each other the sign of peace and Father asked Aunt P & Mr Tall Guy if they'd like to go offer their parents the sign of peace. Aunt P answered "Yes Father" took one step backward, looked down and saw that there were feathers all over the floor. She quickly stepped forward and said -- "No thank you Father" -- the priest was quite confused..... "Aunt P, are you sure" -- "Yes Father".

Aunt P turns to me "what do I do?" -- so, I suggested she try to kick them over my way and I'd scoop them up the next time I kneeled down -- this strategy worked (although the laughter and the visual of big-old-pregnant me crawling around on the floor indicated that something was amok) and disaster was averted.