Chad and Ana Kristina "Sam" Updyke

Pre-wedding preps

Big Sister, in arm warmers she knit from her own home spun yarn, does Sammie's hair.

And I did Anna Maria's.

Trust

Last spring, youngest daughter Sam handed me yards and yard of fabric, patterns, sewing notions and detailed instructions. On Friday, the day before her wedding, she saw the finished results for the first time. Is that trust or what?

A few minor adjustments...she's looking pleased!

And Eliza Grace, one of the flower girls, is pleased as well.

Dresses are finished...

and I have reclaimed my living space from piles of fabric, sewing notions and the machine. What! you thought you would see the finished dresses BEFORE the wedding? No way -- you'll have to wait for the wedding pictures next weekend.

Memories & Dreams

Today, from Zelma's in Staunton I bought two crenoline slips for a total of $35...Owner Kimberly Berry gave me a deal, as she knew these were for my youngest daughter's wedding next week. I brought one to Broadway tonight for AM to try on, so I'd know if it fit or needed to be taken in (Sam's has a draw string and is adjustable). After trying it on, AM said she had tried her wedding dress on several times, but couldn't figure out what was missing, why it didn't look the same. When she saw the slip, she knew. She had borrowed a crenoline slip for her wedding and without it, the dress just didn't look the same. So I asked if she'd get it and try it on,. As Eliza helped pull elastic loops over minuscule buttons and Maggie watched, we reminisced the making of my daughter's wedding dress, my first attempt at a wedding gown, and the agony of trying to get the dress just perfect, of trying to create a sleeve that "worked" with the dress since a grandmother disaproved of sleeveless wedding dresses, of adding a veil at the request of another grandmother who believed that chaste brides should always have a veil, AND the joy of hours of labor turning into a dream of a dress, and the added bonus of discovering that my wedding veil, adapted to fit a headpiece Anna Maria made, was exactly the same length as the dress's train.
In a box somewhere I have similar photo taken seven years ago, a full length view taken at the Fillmore house as AM looked at herself in the full length mirror at the top of the stairs there.
The train hooks to the dress, so the girls couldn't try that on...but they did clip the veil in their hair. And they thought more about being princesses than brides, and wondered why the veil and train were so long.
"It's like a waterfall," Anna Maria told them.
That's the same thing she said when she first tried the dress on, and waterfalls and dragon falls have been a recurring theme in her and Steven's wedding.

Well, soon my other daughter's wedding dress will be added to my repertoire, and tonight I wondered, "Will I be able to see well enough to make the granddaughters' wedding dresses, should that opportunity avail itself?" And will this veil be a part of a third generation of weddings? And/or perhaps Anna Maria's dress and train will be a part of one or both of those gowns?

8.5 Miler

8.5 miles in 1:43:22, a 12:10 mile pace. The temp was about 88 degrees. When I finished the camel was dry (camel back hydration pack), and I was soaked. I drank a sports drink and ate an energy bar before I left around 9 a.m., plus a bottle of water and a cup of coffee. (Click on the photo and you'll see I was dripping!) My exercising friends will appreciate the next statement; I neither puked my guts out nor pooped my drawers.

I did have help...at the 5.5 mile mark I called my friend Nelson, "Hey, buddy, this is an SOS, 2.5 miles to go and I'm hot and tired. If you get this message, call me back and pray for me." He did! And I had encouragement from a college students just as I was left home as well.

The 5K I've been training for is Saturday, a week from today, so training is now over and next week is a recovery week. Based on the stats to date, I'll call it a good race if I manage a 10 minute mile pace. I am disappointed by that, but when I mentioned that to the college women I met this morning, they said they couldn't even run 3 miles.

And they were shocked that I thought that I'd be able to do 10 miles in under two hours by the end of October. So that encouraged me. If I had maintained this morning's pace for one and a more half miles, I'd have been just over two hours, so I just need to knock off one minute to make two hours. Drop anything more and I'll be under two, and I have most of September and October to work on that. And it will be cooler then also, which should help.

Perspective and focus...the goal for Saturday's race is to calm me, and help me center and focus for my daughter's wedding and granddaughter's birthday party. That's my main purpose, and a slow time won't hinder that goal. I also have a target race time, but that's secondary to finishing and finishing well and getting myself centered and calm. My sister AND Nelson both reminded me of that this week. It's so easy to forget the main thing and to get side tracked and disillusioned by things of lesser importance. Good friends, however, get us back on track.

God is good; sometimes we see it, the rest of the time we live by faith.

Peanut Butter and Me

Peanut Butter is amazingly affectionate; he loves to snuggle and bleats pathetically when his people stop petting him. (Photos by Anna Maria Johnson). He's best handled outside on a leash, because in a fenced in area his desperate attempts to get a hug will likely get you penned between a fence and him.