Apr
20
I got tagged by Mandalyn for this wedding meme that is going around. This kind of meme is hard for me because it’s a lot of questions and some of them I really don’t have an answer for and some I may not remember! So instead of doing the question thing I’ll write just a bit about my wedding, way back when!
I graduated high school early and was pretty young so I went to a local junior college for a couple of years before moving to a senior college. When I got to Mississippi State as a junior I met Don on campus. We both were involved in Campus Crusade and met there. I don’t remember how long it was before we started dating but I think we dated about a year before getting engaged and by then we were seniors. We got married in June after we graduated, I was young because of getting out of high school early but thought I was so grown up. It probably took me 10 or more years of marriage and 4 kids to realize how young and not grown up I was! That was back in the mid 70’s so we’ve been married a little over 30 years now. We got married in Jackson, MS but I don’t remember much about the ceremony or reception at all. I think there were about 3 or 4 attendants but I’d have to go dig out pictures to make sure! I’ve lost touch with all of them except for Nancy, Don’s sister, who was a bridesmaid. Sister Stacy was like the junior bridesmaid and of course I haven’t lost touch with her! The reception was in the fellowship hall of the church with no band or dancing and no meal, but we had punch, cake and nuts maybe. I don’t remember much about the dress, it was long and white and had sort of sheer sleeves. I do remember shopping for it by myself which I don’t think I liked very much and it feels sad for me now but my mom didn’t always go out and do a lot of those kinds of things with me. I did enjoy shopping with my daughter though when we picked out her wedding dress! My mom must have made some of the plans for other details of the wedding though because I don’t recall doing most of it. We went to Colorado on our honeymoon and then afterward stayed there for a few months to do some training for Campus Crusade to be on staff for them. At the end of the summer Crusade decided they wanted us to wait for a year before we did full time staff work so we came back to Mississippi without really knowing what we would do. Hubby decided to farm for a bit so we raised rice and soybeans for one year and then he went into the irrigation business which he’s been doing ever since.
For some reason that I don’t think any of us have ever seemed to figure out, Stacy, Suzanne and I don’t have many memories of childhood things or events. I do think that each of the three of us remember different things though so we should probably compare notes some day. I didn’t always get along great with my parents growing up but it got better after I was married. Once I was married it always seemed important to me to do things with our kids that would make lasting memories and Don always thought it was important for us to travel together with them so we have done a LOT of family trips with our 4 kids over the years. He and I have great memories of some of those trips! I think we always thought it would be things the kids would remember forever….but on a few occasions over the last couple of years, one or the other of the kids will be talking about something and comment “I don’t remember when we did this or I have no recollection of us doing that!” That sort of took me by surprise because I thought we had worked so hard for things that they would remember forever! So maybe it’s just normal that you won’t remember everything from your growing up years after all. I think they do remember the important stuff though!
April 20th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
What a wonderful post, Gail! Learned some neat little tidbits about you…how fun!
You know I don’t have tons of memories from growing up either. I know my childhood was a happy one, but there’s not a lot that really jumps out at me. My husband seems to remember soooo much about his childhood, so I always thought that there must be something wrong with me.
April 20th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
I’m sorry I tagged you for a difficult meme. I loved reading your answers though! I love learning new information about my blogging friends. We have the South in common. I know I told you that I was born in Flowood, right outside Jackson!:)
God Bless!
April 20th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
Nice post. I didn’t know that she didn’t go shopping with you for your dress. How sad. I am surprised that you didn’t have to sew it yourself!
April 20th, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I think I knew most of this, but I don’t have a lot of memory of it either. I thought I was a flower girl, not a junior bridesmaid. I was only 9 years old, by the way! 🙂 I don’t remember anything from either of your weddings, and of course, I didn’t really have one, so this is not a meme for me. Dodie didn’t want anything to do with my wedding either, and I had to go pick out a dress by myself, and pay for it, and everything else.
I actually thought I saw this meme going around the blogosphere that asked specific questions, so I was expecting to see answers to those questions. Still a good post, and you gave us a lot of info, hehehe! 🙂
P.S. You should post a picture of you and Don from the wedding, I know you have a few left. And you can do another post about what happened to all of your pictures!
April 20th, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Yes, yes, a picture please. And I’ll take the bait:
What did happen to your pictures??
My mom went shopping and did everything for my wedding. I am not a etiquette(?)-following person, so I really didn’t care if I did things by the book, but my mama…she did care! And she bought a book, and we did things by that book. And then, the week of the wedding, told someone in a conversation as I was standing there, “I think I’ve been sensitive to what J wants. I’ve let her make the decision.” Needless to say, my eyebrows shot up, and I said, “When?” I think she really felt that way, but all I got to do was pick out the picture of the wedding dress I wanted, and have someone make it. I would go back and do alot of things differently!! :0) But you didn’t ask me that, did you?
Just sharing the wealth, just sharing the wealth.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Ok, when Stacy said this: “I don’t remember anything from either of your weddings” She is talking about me and my sister Suzanne! Just to clarify I’ve only had one wedding and am still married and won’t have another one! And maybe you were flower girl Stacy, I thought you were 10 or 11 instead of 9 so I said junior bridesmaid because I thought 10 was old for flower girl!
I thought about a picture this morning but they are all very big and might be hard to size down and plus…………..they are NOT good!
April 20th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
I enjoyed reading. I had to do a lot of the wedding planning completely alone as well. My husband’s cousin came with me to shop for a dress. My mom had passed away two years before, but I’m not sure she would have been too involved. She was very non-materialistic, and would have wanted it to be much simpler than it was–and trust me, it was already very simple! It would be fun to see your pictures though. And I thought I did a good job asking my hubby out too–he always said he was going to ask me out anyway!
April 20th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
What a nice post, Gail. It’s funny. When we’re growing up and everything is so drama ridden, we swear we’ll “never forget this.” And then we do.
I have some black holes in my memories. But I hope I remember the truly important things. You surely do.
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:14 am
That was so interesting Gail! I loved reading how you met your husband. You know, even though some of my memories are not good ones, I seem to remember everything from the time I was two…both wonderful and awful…
Blessings!
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:11 pm
What a fun post. Thanks so much for sharing such an important part of your life with us!