One of my little sisters is getting married in a little over a month. She's the first in our family to be having a traditional wedding with all the bells and whistles, or at least, most of the bells and whistles.
I was excited to get to plan a party more elegant than most of the gatherings I put together. Most of my parties are
potluck and
rag tag, and perfectly suited to how I like things done. But for Claire's shower, I wanted to plan something really special. So we rented tables and chairs, plates and silver ware, arranged dozens of flowers and strung lights in an attempt to
recreate this scene. I was excited to craft a beautiful, perfect evening, and in my excitement I may have lost sight of the real purpose of the party: to celebrate Claire and the beautiful and sometimes overwhelming journey she's about to embark on.
Because I had so completely lost sight, I did not handle the disappointment of unpleasant weather well. After weeks of nearly perfect weather, Saturday brought rain and wind and grey skies. It sent people inside, and meant that the big, sit down, family style meal I had planned and prepared was replaced with dinner plates balancing on laps and end tables.
As I said, I did not handle my disappointment every gracefully, but luckily in the few photos that I did manage to get of the evening, I see that most everyone else was able to enjoy the evening as it was, not distracted by what it might have been.
Although I did not fully appreciate it in the moment, I can now look back and recognize how special it is when people from all walks of life come to celebrate a single person, in this case my beautiful, loyal, strong-willed sister, the embodiment of a fiery redhead if there ever was one.
