Week 19 of 52 - Something Borrowed, Something Navy Blue

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, I really did, I forgot the garment bag with the clothes that we are supposed to wear to the wedding.”

“No, I put the garment bag on the loveseat by the door, so it has to be in the car.”

“I hung the garment bag back in the hall closet while you were at the training so the clothes wouldn’t get wrinkled.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. This is from the man who routinely wears socks with sandals and prefers pants that zip off into shorts. Now he is worried about wrinkles?

I had packed everything Thursday night and placed it by the door. After a very long commute home Friday evening, I snuggled and fed the baby while he packed the car. I mentally checked off everything that I had packed up the night before, feeling more and more confident I had remembered everything.

So when we arrived at almost 11 pm and learned my clothes for the wedding were still at home, almost 3 hours away, my heart sank.

Then as I’m processing how I will find a dress before the wedding tomorrow afternoon, he says, “I guess this means I won’t get to go fishing tomorrow morning, huh?”

“Don’t talk to me about FISHING,” I growl.

The next morning I decide my options. First, I text my good friend who might have something I could borrow. When I don’t hear back from her, I head into town to the one department store.

For 40 minutes, I try on over 10 different dresses – my options are down to a purple dress with 3 inch waist pleats that scream, “Is she expecting again?” and a bum zipper. Then there is a yellow dress 2 sizes too big and my attempts to fold the extra fabric over under the belt are failing.

I am heartsick at the idea of having to buy yet another dress when I had three I'd just bought at home. My dear mother is calling to assure me she can fix the zipper or take up the other dress but I hate both dresses. My frustration is slipping out in my thoughts – yeah, they’d better enjoy their wedding day because it won’t be so enjoyable when he forgets THEIR garment bag.

Then just before I start to shed tears, my phone rings, my friend Meg is on the line saying she has plenty of dresses to choose from. So I race out of my dressing room and speed to her house – a far better selection than the department store and all in my size! I choose a beautiful navy blue and cream one and thank her as I race out the door.

As a funny side note, my mom later tells me that just before I called to tell her I was going to Meg’s, she heard Walt tell George, “Son, we’d better pray that mama finds a dress so that mama will be nice to daddy.” Glad that prayer was answered because I was failing at the being nice part!

In the end, we made it just fine with my borrowed dress and Walt in my dad’s borrowed button-down and pleated pants, circa 1998. When I saw all the bridesmaids dressed in the exact same shade of pink as my dress tucked in the garment bag at home, I had to smile. Maybe he saved me a wedding faux pas after all.

Love him and love that in the middle of everything he grinned and said, "look at it this way, I've given you a blog topic this week"...

Favorite image of the week:  my brother with Samuel...

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
         From where shall my help come?
    My help comes from the LORD,
         Who made heaven and earth.
    He will not allow your foot to slip;
         He who keeps you will not slumber.

Psalm 121: 1-3