Two Engagements and a Marriage -- Changes Part Three

Day Six -- NaBloPoMo

Another thing happening in 2017 around the same time Thomas got his cancer diagnosis was our son Andrew becoming engaged to his girlfriend of two years, Alexandria. We had figured marriage was in the future for them, but it hadn't been official yet. Although, according to Andrew, if it had been up to him, they would have been married at least a year earlier. 

Laughing together is one of the greatest joys of coupledom!

(at ACL's 100 Year Celebration)

When they first announced their engagement, it was their plan to marry over the winter, possibly February or March of 2018. Alex is a very independent young lady, but I offered to help her and her mother with anything they needed as far as planning went, and Thomas and I together offered to help with the expenses of the wedding. Alex said she really didn't want a big wedding, though, it just wasn't her. But she promised to let us know when we were needed.  By May they were talking about moving up the date to possibly September or October, and then suddenly in June we were told it would probably be in July, and they'd let us know when they'd decided on a date. 

Well, I wasn't really surprised. And I wasn't surprised not to be involved in any massive wedding planning.  I hadn't expected them to do anything large or complicated or requiring much planning. It just isn't who they are. And honestly, with Thomas' radiation and other things going on in the family, part of me was glad they were going to keep it simple.  But I was surprised when I got a call from Andrew in June to tell me that they were getting married the next week on July 5th at a large park near his house with dinner afterward at a nice restaurant also nearby. It would be just the immediate family and a few close friends. 

It was the sweetest wedding, and they wrote their own wedding vows that made me shed some happy tears. It was sweet, intimate, and very romantic. We were very happy to welcome Alexandria into the family. Anyone who has read my blog for a while and watched my kids grow up knows that I don't write about Andrew as much as Eler Beth. He has always been more of a private person. And that is doubly so now that he is married. Alexandria is an extremely private person (and so is her mother), so I would not feel right about writing about her personal life very much except in contexts such as these. But I love her like another daughter and treat her like one.  And Andrew is actually very, very much like me; in some ways more than Eler Beth is like me. He was my baby for 6 years before they were born, and we have a connection that is totally different from the connection EB and I have.  Drew and Alexandria celebrated their second anniversary this year, and I hope they just keep going strong.  This is the post I made in January 2017 about their engagement. 

Nothing better than laughing together.

(At Andrew and Alexandria's

wedding dinner)

Just before Andrew's wedding, Eler Beth pleasantly surprised all of us by deciding that she was finally interested in dating the young man whom she'd said for years would be the only guy of her acquaintance she could ever see herself marrying. Those who have watched her grow up know what a big deal this was for her and for us!  They began dating in June and then became engaged in September. Now THIS wedding I knew was going to be big, and I wanted it to be. It isn't every day you get to help plan and be a part of the wedding of your daughter/soul-mate/best friend/piece of your heart. I entered into this new phase of my daughter's life with joy and excitement -- and my very own, very well-organized, wedding planner binder.  Anthony and Eler Beth had been friends for years, and they just both at the same time decided they wanted to be more.  And Thomas and I were very happy with that choice. For background this is the post I finally took the time to write about Eler Beth and Anthony's courtship before the engagement. And these are the two paragraphs that sum it up if you don't want to read the whole thing. (But seriously, read the whole thing! It is such a romantic story.)

Some people, not knowing the whole story, have said that this is very, very sudden and have advised caution and that they take their time, but I have been putting it out there among our acquaintance that it isn't actually as sudden as it might seem, since they've been friends for many years. Seriously, what better foundation for a relationship than to have known and liked one another as friends for years? And thankfully, Anthony's parents adore Eler Beth and are supportive of the couple as well.

Thomas actually proposed to me after we'd been dating only two weeks, so perhaps our view of such a sudden romance is a bit skewed. lol  I actually made him wait a month before I gave him an answer, and then we were engaged for 10 months before we got married because I wanted a June wedding, but still!  They have already discussed just about everything that can be discussed by a couple contemplating marriage. They are not officially engaged. They do consider themselves engaged. I am pretty sure there will be no announcement until he presents her with a ring, but I expect that at any time now. (He has already got all the pertinent information out of me -- size, favored stone and metal, etc.) And I am so okay with it. I've been asked how I can be so okay with the suddenness of the prospect of losing my cherished daughter, my best friend, probably within the year, and all I can think to say is that it is because it is Eler Beth and because it is Anthony. They are so perfect for one another. They are still amazed with each other and with the whole situation, because in many ways it was sudden. But it is seriously as if they had been waiting for one another.

So 2017, amidst work worries and prostate cancer treatment, had two of the best things happen for us -- both our son and our daughter became engaged to beautiful people, and we got aa wonderful new daughter in Alexandria.

But closer to the end of the year we were laying plans for 2018; not just wedding plans, but preparing for the work changes and money changes (and empty nest!) we knew were coming.

To be continued....

~~ Lori