Chuy's and a Coley Matrimony
This morning I woke up to the loud, harsh voice of my father alerting us that the van's battery had died, which is how Justin (my older brother) was going to get to work since my dad was leaving to go fishing with his friend Woody. He told him to work out other arrangements, because there was nothing he could do for them before he was set to leave about an hour late. Well, good morning to me I guess! My sister left to babysit early on as well, so two members of my family were absent by the time I made it out of bed. My uncle came to pick Hunter and I up to go to the mall to eat at Chuy's with our grandparents like we had been meaning to for a while. The game plan was he would pick us up, then my grandparents would swing by and pick Justin and Keri up at 12:30 (Keri didn't get off from babysitting until that time).
The parking situation was HORRENDOUS and so he dropped the pair of us off in front of the restaurant and told us to put our names in and see how long the way would be. Luckily, a table for seven was being cleared off right as we walked in and we were able to be seated immediately. I probably ate enough chips to fill an entire store-bought bag as we waited for the rest of them to come join us. At least they're complimentary and unending, right? The rest of the gang finally arrived and I'm pretty sure our waitress was like, "Thank goodness, I thought you guys would never show up!". Despite the crowds, our food was brought out fairly quickly. They managed to get all our orders right, which I applaud them for because our family is quite picky. It doesn't take much to make me full, so I ate two appetizer quesadillas and some fried rice and I was ready to blow this popsicle stand. Of course my whole family naturally asked for to-go cups at three separate times and had this poor lady running back and forth to fill our requests. Our party parted ways: some of us stayed with our uncle to look in the mall for a bit, the rest went home. We looked in the candy, Disney, Lego, Hot Topic, and video game store. Afterwards, we made our home with only about an hour to spare before we had to encounter our next adventure of the day: attending a wedding.
It was hard to pick an outfit because honestly all the dresses I own have sat in my closet for ages, and not many of them fit me the way I would like them to. Too tight, or too loose, too short, etc. Eventually, I just settled for a skirt and a nice shirt, because that's what I felt most comfortable in. The wedding was set to start at four o' clock, so we told our grandpa to come get Keri, Justin, and I at half past three. He arrived a little later than expected, which of course made me nervous, because I hate being late to things. We ended up being okay. We dropped Justin off at work, and he got us to the church with minutes to spare. It took us a hot minute to figure out which door to come through, but once we did we were good to go. As soon as you walked in, there was a quilt that people were signing that was draped across the table as if it were a table cloth; later on I came to discover they used that quilt as an alternative to a guest book. We took a seat in one of the back rows and waited for the ceremony to start. Two twin brothers were leading family to the front pews, walking repeatedly through the aisle. Then, one by one, the bridesmaids made their way to the front in sky blue, floor-length dresses. Two little children made their way hand in hand, clad in adorable yet formal outfits for the occasion. (Not sure what ceremonial purpose they served, but they were cute, that's what matters most.) The flower girl with elegant, blonde locks was so tiny and delicately dropped petals where the bride a groom would soon be. We were all asked to stand as Erin and her fiance Michael entered, and you could just hear everyone's hearts stop. I have known Erin for almost my whole life through church. She has been a mentor to my family in more ways than one and it was crazy to see her getting married. I sure felt old.
What followed was the quickest sequence of vows I've ever seen! It probably only took like thirty minutes, then we were off to the reception! We made our way to the gym and waited for a long while for the rest of the guests to arrive. The DJ played some great tunes, lots of Disney, which was fitting for the reception that was Disney/Beauty and the Beast themed! Each table had a different number and set of characters on them. In the middle of the room at the front was their own table, which had a rose on it in a glass container. My sister and I traveled around the room to check everything out; the cakes, the photo booth, those kinds of things. There was a Captain America shield cake, in addition to a traditional three-layer white cake. We talked with the old children's ministry director and her husband for a long while, and eventually the newlyweds rejoined the crowd. There was the classic first dance & father-daughter dance. For the father-daughter dance I was almost brought tears by the song they played- Cinderella- which made me reflect on my own life and how fast I've grown up. There was finally cake, which I had waited all evening for, and we departed shortly after getting our picture with the bride.
Overall, it was a tiring day, but nonetheless rewarding. It's extremely late as I type this, so not going to make this too much more drawn out. All I can say is, what a blessing and a curse it is to grow old with others who also grow old. Time is something to cherish and to never be taken for granted. I will never be able to put in to perspective how fast these years have seemed to fly for me, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. And I wouldn't trade those around me for anything.
(P.S. Her new last name is Coley, hence the reason it is in the title of the blog post.)
Love always,
Allison
The parking situation was HORRENDOUS and so he dropped the pair of us off in front of the restaurant and told us to put our names in and see how long the way would be. Luckily, a table for seven was being cleared off right as we walked in and we were able to be seated immediately. I probably ate enough chips to fill an entire store-bought bag as we waited for the rest of them to come join us. At least they're complimentary and unending, right? The rest of the gang finally arrived and I'm pretty sure our waitress was like, "Thank goodness, I thought you guys would never show up!". Despite the crowds, our food was brought out fairly quickly. They managed to get all our orders right, which I applaud them for because our family is quite picky. It doesn't take much to make me full, so I ate two appetizer quesadillas and some fried rice and I was ready to blow this popsicle stand. Of course my whole family naturally asked for to-go cups at three separate times and had this poor lady running back and forth to fill our requests. Our party parted ways: some of us stayed with our uncle to look in the mall for a bit, the rest went home. We looked in the candy, Disney, Lego, Hot Topic, and video game store. Afterwards, we made our home with only about an hour to spare before we had to encounter our next adventure of the day: attending a wedding.
It was hard to pick an outfit because honestly all the dresses I own have sat in my closet for ages, and not many of them fit me the way I would like them to. Too tight, or too loose, too short, etc. Eventually, I just settled for a skirt and a nice shirt, because that's what I felt most comfortable in. The wedding was set to start at four o' clock, so we told our grandpa to come get Keri, Justin, and I at half past three. He arrived a little later than expected, which of course made me nervous, because I hate being late to things. We ended up being okay. We dropped Justin off at work, and he got us to the church with minutes to spare. It took us a hot minute to figure out which door to come through, but once we did we were good to go. As soon as you walked in, there was a quilt that people were signing that was draped across the table as if it were a table cloth; later on I came to discover they used that quilt as an alternative to a guest book. We took a seat in one of the back rows and waited for the ceremony to start. Two twin brothers were leading family to the front pews, walking repeatedly through the aisle. Then, one by one, the bridesmaids made their way to the front in sky blue, floor-length dresses. Two little children made their way hand in hand, clad in adorable yet formal outfits for the occasion. (Not sure what ceremonial purpose they served, but they were cute, that's what matters most.) The flower girl with elegant, blonde locks was so tiny and delicately dropped petals where the bride a groom would soon be. We were all asked to stand as Erin and her fiance Michael entered, and you could just hear everyone's hearts stop. I have known Erin for almost my whole life through church. She has been a mentor to my family in more ways than one and it was crazy to see her getting married. I sure felt old.
What followed was the quickest sequence of vows I've ever seen! It probably only took like thirty minutes, then we were off to the reception! We made our way to the gym and waited for a long while for the rest of the guests to arrive. The DJ played some great tunes, lots of Disney, which was fitting for the reception that was Disney/Beauty and the Beast themed! Each table had a different number and set of characters on them. In the middle of the room at the front was their own table, which had a rose on it in a glass container. My sister and I traveled around the room to check everything out; the cakes, the photo booth, those kinds of things. There was a Captain America shield cake, in addition to a traditional three-layer white cake. We talked with the old children's ministry director and her husband for a long while, and eventually the newlyweds rejoined the crowd. There was the classic first dance & father-daughter dance. For the father-daughter dance I was almost brought tears by the song they played- Cinderella- which made me reflect on my own life and how fast I've grown up. There was finally cake, which I had waited all evening for, and we departed shortly after getting our picture with the bride.
Overall, it was a tiring day, but nonetheless rewarding. It's extremely late as I type this, so not going to make this too much more drawn out. All I can say is, what a blessing and a curse it is to grow old with others who also grow old. Time is something to cherish and to never be taken for granted. I will never be able to put in to perspective how fast these years have seemed to fly for me, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. And I wouldn't trade those around me for anything.
(P.S. Her new last name is Coley, hence the reason it is in the title of the blog post.)
Love always,
Allison
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