Thursday: teamwork

We gather the troops in the evening at the farmhouse: the soon-to-be-marrieds...





...my older daughter and her husband...





...the inlaws, out of town friends of one of my girl's but really of both, because close friends become like family, my girls' dad -- all here, eating pizza and talking about what? Oh, the weather, for one thing!

They traveled from all corners of the country to be here for my soon  to be married girl. The Minneapolis contingency drove, which is good because the airport there closed due to continuous and heavy rains. (I know because another friend is stuck there, waiting for a way to come to Madison.) When will I remember that weather these days is never just "normal?"

It's been a crazy day -- not pf physical work this time but of coordination. You know how it is: nothing goes according to plan. The potty guy was to come in the morning, but now he's worried that he can't get his truck through to the site. Soggy ground, heavy truck.

He is correct in his worries: he cannot. We need a different strategy. Many consulting calls later, we have a new place, a tad too close to Ed's beloved pear tree. Branches should be cut. Ed balks, volunteering to hold them high as the truck passes. Ed goes away, I snip off a branch or two. I mean, we don't even eat half the pears from that tree.

The tree guy for the dangling willow branch does not show. I throw it to the group -- do we cordon off the area? Do we relocate the ceremony?

The cedar oil sprayers didn't show up yesterday and again didn't show up today. No explanation. No one picks up the phone.[Update: he made it! He's here!]

The tent guy, too, doesn't show up but at least he promises an early morning arrival tomorrow. I tell him -- it didn't rain today. It will rain tomorrow. You like working in the rain?

The French bakers don't make it to the local farmers market. She calls me and tells me they have my eclairs (tonight's dessert), but if I want them, I'm going to have to travel to get them. Ed, help!!

But we don't really review all those details tonight. We think ahead. The focus is on how to coordinate all that remains for tomorrow and the next day. I can hear Ed's thoughts -- they are loud and have been echoing in the air for months now -- all that work for one day!

But it's not one day. It's a life together and I know so many are reminding you that marriages so often don't last, but neither does life and so should we not live it for the wonderful days when it is given to us?

The weather broods. At sunrise, there is a very thin strip of orange sky, but that ribbon gets quickly pushed aside and the gray skies remain with us for the day.






Yes, it rained a bit in the morning, but that's like telling someone who has sat in the basement through two tornadoes that there is a bit of a breeze outside. Who would even notice?



 


Breakfast had been leisurely. A last breath before the frenzy of coordination, calling, texting, with last minute mowing, last minute chip distribution, last minute branch removal.





And now it is evening and I tell myself that after everyone leaves I will catch up with sleep. I am significantly under-sleeping and that cannot be.

Will it all come together? Of course it will. And tomorrow -- will it fly as quickly and will my team here get everything checked off their lists as I wait for the arrival of tent, tables and who knows what else?

I'll let you know.