Old Soul, Young Heart

I had a lot of support throughout the wedding planning process and the day of! Besides Michele, my aunt, and my mother-in-law--who were instrumental in keeping me sane, checking in with me if I needed help, and just being there to bounce ideas off of--I also had my friends Hannah and Sheila. Hannah and I went to grad school together and our friendship has bloomed via Facebook Chat haha. We're sad that we weren't closer during grad school. We try to be friends in real life too, but with her living in Deer Creek and working in Peoria, it can be a challenge to get together. But I think we'll friends forever! Hannah was there to listen to the woes and triumphs of the whole experience, before/during/after. She also read the reading during the ceremony and did a great job (as you can see above)! Sheila and I went to high school together and have gotten closer since then, even. She lives in Las Vegas now, so we don't get to see each other often, but whenever she'

I posted more Beyond the Well wedding pictures last night because I love a lot of them and didn't originally post very many because I was giving some of them as gifts for Christmas. I didn't want people to see them on facebook before they got their present. After posting the pics, people started to "like" them a lot and, though I love them, I realized that the pictures stress me out. It brings back all of my "I want everyone to like everything" tendencies. I couldn't fall asleep because I was reliving and rethinking it. It started to bring out some rage about... People not saying thank you. People being passive aggressive. People being selfish. People not following etiquette. (This one is least important, because whatever. But when people know better, they are intentionally doing it to be catty and that's super annoying to me.) It sucks that relationships are weird and when people do shitty things, you will never forget it. I'm good at

This Marriage Monday features the girls in the bridal party! One of my favorite pics of me and Michele. Peggy (and dad), trying to calm me down before walking in. Brooke, smiling at her brother at the end of the aisle. Briana and Faith, cutest flower girls ever. The girls who will be in my life forever. :)

And then it was picture time! Lots and lots of photos were taken. Here's a selection of some of my favs.

Today puts all other days in perspective, because today marks the nine year anniversary of Mom's death. How has nine years already passed? It's hard to wrap my head around it being that long. I try not to think about things like this too hard, but my mom has been gone for one-third of my life. (Since working with hospital chaplains, I don't like to say things like "gone" or "passed away," but saying "my mom's been dead..." is really hard to say and write and read and think.) My dad was surprisingly cheerful this morning. Usually he's very sad and depressed on this day and the days leading up to it. Poor Dad.

After our moment alone, we waited for everyone to file outside the chapel. The weather was perfect that day--a crisp fall day with lots of sunshine. The wedding coordinator at the chapel told us to stop and kiss outside... it was kinda awkward haha. It was fun to walk through the bubbles. :)   I don't think I realized how long my train was until I saw this picture. (Thanks, Han, for the pics!) I had really wanted to do something more original than bubbles, but I also didn't want to spend a lot of time or money on our "send off." I would've loved to have done balloons, but the logistics weren't worth it. It was simple and worked just fine. Other Marriage Monday news: We got a doggie this weekend! Philip is stressing about it. Riley is such a good dog (very cute and loving), but he doesn't know any simple commands like sit, lay, stay, come, etc. which is making it difficult to accomplish anything with getting him and Chloe ac