Strolling Through My Past

Last night I spent a few pleasant hours looking through old photo albums. I was hunting pictures of Philip. Here he is with his three older two older and one younger (oops!) cousins. Philip was grandbaby #3 for my parents, who eventually had 26 grandchildren (forgive me if that number's not right, family). When this picture was taken though, these four were it!

Philip, Jathan, Kyrie, Kesse

Jathan is married now. So is Kyrie, with two babies. And Philip will be marrying in only a few weeks. Thus -- my photo album search. I want to send a little album of pictures of him to his bride-to-be, so she will have pictures of him during his growing up years. ((sniff))
Adam and I were distracted in my search by my wedding album. It's chock full of cards and shower invitations, and photos of now-deceased dear ladies who took an interest in me. So sweet.

Here's a sample page. The newspaper clippings are my mother-in-law's. She wrote a weekly community column for the county paper, the Hinds County Gazette. That lady has a gift for humor, let me tell you! She had a fan following :) But before the wedding she wrote quite a bit about the upcoming nuptials, and I kept them all. There are tickets to movies Adam and I went to together. On the right-hand page is the receipt for payment for my engagement ring, a piece of antique estate jewelry from Juniker's Jewelers.

I was such an organized single woman! (Not now! ha!) Here's the page I typed out, of the sanctuary during the ceremony and where everyone would stand or sit.

I kept a copy of the order of pastoral text and vows from the book we selected for this purpose.

I typed out my own order of service for my own use. In those days, nobody ever handed out little bulletins to the guests so they would know what was happening next, or what the bridesmaids' names were. Guests were expected to sit and enjoy, that was all.

Janet Gustafson, a college friend, was my guest soloist. She sang with such a high, clear soprano tone, lovely in our large sanctuary. I have the service on VHS tape, but haven't watched it now in several years. "The Minnesingers" was a ladies' ensemble I sang with for years. What fun we had!
But this is my favorite page, and it makes me laugh. I wrote out my personal schedule for a week and a half before the wedding. I listed all the responsibilities and activities of each day. And I wrote what clothes I would wear that day. Really? Really! Good grief. A bit obsessive, yes?

I loathed standing in front of my closet on a busy morning before a frantic day, forcing my brain to choose something to wear. I hate choosing. I hate picking food from a restaurant menu. I'd rather close my eyes and pick randomly with my finger! So lining up my clothes ahead of time was a comfort to me. I was busy sewing my veil, working on bridesmaids' dresses, eating with various friends, working, spending time with Adam, picking Janet up at the airport, etc.

For a funny story -- on Thursday before the wedding, Adam was stopped by police at a regular traffic check. They told him that his driver's license was suspended because he'd had a ticket ages before, and had never paid his ticket. Needless to say, he was alarmed. Without proper I.D., he could not get a marriage license the next day! He sat in his VW bug, shuffling through his glove box and his wallet. Miraculously -- yes, I do say miraculously! -- he found the receipt for the payment for that ticket. He still had it, on his person. If you understood the level of complete disorganization that was my fiance at that time, you'd realize the miraculous here. (We were quite opposites.) But he presented the receipt, spent the day getting his license active, and we sailed down to the registry office the next day and got our marriage license. I knew nothing. He wisely kept that little adventure to himself. (Now, Adam and I admit to having some disagreement about the details of this story ... but this is my blog, so this is how I remember it! haha!)

I have more albums to peruse in search of the young Philip. Do you look at old photos ever? I need to do it more.