The Meaning of MOB

The Mother of the Bride.

It means:

~ tedious and fun craft projects!

~ cycling 30 tablecloths through the dryer... alllllll day... with a damp towel to get those ugly wrinkles out... then breaking your drying rack because surely your walmart drying rack can hold 100 lbs of linens! 

~ brainstorming, timelines, and lots of lists...

~ ordering random things like battery packs and double-sided tape and wait, DO WE TRULY HAVE ENOUGH SAFETY PINS for the emergency bag???

~ more fun craft projects!

~ steaming dresses... LOTS of dresses.  When I don't know what to do next, I just steam a dress and usually by the time I'm finished, I know what to work on next.

~ piles.  EVERYWHERE.  Wedding piles, apartment piles, present piles, return piles, PILES.  I think the Rugged Mountain Man is ready to sleep outside.

~ I'm the SAG team.  My dad calls my mom the "Support and Gear team" when he does his marathon bike rides.  That's definitely me in general and definitely me for this whole process... and it's my pleasure.

~ making boutonnieres and corsages and wristlets!  I burned my finger on my good friend's (the Mother of the Groom!) wristlet!  "Greater love hath no Mother of the Bride, than she lay down her life sacrifice her finger for the Mother of the Groom!" lol

~ saying no to random side quests right now, when I'd also like to say yes.  There are two classifications right now, wedding tasks and post-wedding problems!

~ falling down random Google rabbit holes to help research and tie up another loose end.

~ trying to get a little sun while completing urgent homestead chores, because no MOB wants to be pasty-white on the big day.

~ cutesy matching shirts with my close friend, the mother of the groom!  This was one craft project I offloaded!

~ "print me an inspo pic," because what the bride is thinking and what I'm thinking are two different things (Hello from two different generations!) BUT it is delightful to use years of event experience to help make their vision come alive!

~ It means being present, being helpful, and figuring it all out... together!

And it was oh-so-sweet!

More on the wedding another time!  As always, dear friends, thanks for walking through the seasons of motherhood with me.  They are truly beautiful.  We are profoundly grateful here in the Hollow.

Life Lately - Two Weeks Out

Hello friend,

These are exciting times here in the Hollow!  We have less than two weeks til Blossom1's wedding!  We are working on so many details and logistics.  I listen and I ask Blossom1 what is stressing her right now and we try to lighten her and her fiance's load.  I ask questions; we brainstorm and we plug away on list after list.  

Then, we write more lists!

Lately I've been trying:
to delegate more to my Younger Two Blossoms. After all, spray-painting is a life skill, at least according to this thrifting mama!  They've been handling supper each night as well, and I am SO grateful for this.  It's a sigh of relief for me and my gratitude grows each evening as I reflect on how they're pitching in.

Lately my goal has been:

to soak up the togetherness during the tasks.  Sometimes I forget how much connection happens then; we've always been a family that works hard together.  It's beautiful chatting around wedding baking, wedding tasks and lists, and wood-stacking. It's a good season, but it's different and bittersweet. It's still so good, because, after all, the growing up and all the preparation for adulthood, 

this was the goal all along.

Lately I've been sipping: 

a lot more coffee than usual!  Blossom1 is my main barista at home right now and I have determined that any time she's home and offering to make me coffee, I give a whole-hearted YESSSSS.

Lately I've been laughing:

because once upon a time, the Blossoms picked out an Easy Button when they were school shopping with Grandma.  After it was struck sixteen times in a row, with hysterical giggles following, I hid it.  Whilst rummaging for supplies for another wedding project the other day, I found it and decided that any time we complete a wedding task, we will victoriously slap the Easy Button.  (Picture a Michael Jordan slam dunk circa 1996.) 

This is surprisingly satisfying... and it makes us laugh.  We always need more laughter.

When Blossom1 and her fiance arrive home from working at a coffee shop or completing wedding errands, they stand at the dining room table to get caught up their Easy Button presses.  

Lately I've been crafting:

Sister Squad t-shirts just for fun for decorating day, boutonnieres, corsages, flower girl basket, just soooooo many fun things.  I'm good at logistics but I really enjoy the crafts and pretty things.

Lately I've been thinking:

that if you think your homeschooled student hates busy work now, just wait til they get to college.  One thing I didn't anticipate was the strong aversion the Blossoms would develop to busy work and dumb assignments.  We carefully crafted their education so each assignment had a point and purpose, but I'm also glad that character-building has been a focus all along.  Character traits like perseverance and working as unto the Lord are what get Blossom1 through grad school assignments that are dumb, but still have to be completed the week of the wedding.

We're here, plugging away in a different season and I'm whispering daily, 

"Thank you, Lord, for life lately."