Yesterday was a super busy and pretty amazing day. I was up early for me and especially on a Saturday. But I had a good reason. We had the first read through of “Picnic,” the play I am in with the Montevallo Main Street Players. It will be on August 16-28 at the Parnell Library in Montevallo. (Shameless plug!) I expect all of my 5,000 readers to be there!! I am over 65,000 page reads today so I know you are out there, so let’s fill this really pretty theatre space! To be a part of this production and this new experience makes me thankful!
Before the read through was over I had to slip out because Tim and I had to drive a couple of hours to a field and old barn out in the middle of nowhere to set up sound for a wedding. One of “our youth” was getting married. I say “our youth” in quotations even though we have no real claim over this guy except that we love him. Tim has been there for him most of his life, spoke at his eagle scout celebration, etc. Years ago, when we were pretty fed up and ready to quit going on church choir tour, this guy convinced us not to retire until he graduated. Not for anyone else would we have hung around a couple of more years so we could be on his last choir tour. On the first choir tour we ever went on with this kid, (his first, not ours) he was part of a group of 6th graders we called “The Rats.” We called them that because they were all little and ran in a pack. They were the luggage crew on that trip, not because they were smart or organized or trustworthy, even though they were pumped up to think that- it was because they were small enough to fit in the luggage bins under the bus. According to Tim, they fit standing up, although I don’t think that was so! They are all grown now, most graduated from college, the rest are almost done.
On our last choir tour, these guys were so fun to be around. On the first trip we had gone white water rafting and I did not want to be on a raft with them! I did get a couple of rats on my raft, but I also had Jon and Tim there to protect me. The last tour there was no one I would have trusted or wanted to be on that raft with more than “The Rats!!” It was heartbreaking to watch these guys graduate high school and leave the group. You never know if they will be back around or not. But they have been around and we have been blessed to watch them grow up to become good men, fall in love and marry. It was our honor to be a small part of their lives and for that I am thankful.
Yesterday was hot and long, but the venue and the event turned out to be one of the most beautiful I have been a part of. I kept taking pictures with my phone because each place I turned had a beautiful vignette. The bride is very artistic and had made signs and arrangements that perfectly suited the place and simple country wedding she wanted. An old bicycle against a tree with an old barnwood sign that said “wedding” and pointed to keep on the way you were headed. The ribbons in the trees, the cotton stalks with fairy lights leading to the barn, the grapevine arbor with hydrangeas and more ribbons. The old books lined up to spell out “programs” in front of a basket of fans that were printed with the information. Old church pews lined up in an orchard of apple trees, and bridesmaids in varying blue dresses and unmatched cowboy boots. It was all picturesque and perfect. To be a small part of this event made me thankful.
The music for the wedding was a group of young people, two guys on guitar, one on violin and one female vocalist. It was a playlist of hymns and other meaningful songs, played in a relaxed and very appropriate way for the occasion. I enjoyed them during sound check and then again at the wedding. The girl feared her high note was too screechy, but I assured her, as my voice teacher assures me, that we as singers are hearing what is in our head, not what everyone else hears (even though I am sure I AM screeching!) I told her it was lovely and it was.
After the wedding we had something happen that we have not had happen before. We have done several outdoor weddings and it is tough. Dragging a long trailer full of high tech equipment out to remote locations, trying to make do with little or no electricity, and then meeting and working with strangers. It is usually exceptionally hot and buggy. But we do it for the kids we love. More times than not, the people performing are divas. One guy who was the accompanist at another wedding last year actually kicked a monitor we had set up for him and threatened to throw it in the lake behind him if we didn’t move it. I headed as quickly as possible to move it before Tim went and threw the pianist in the water!! By the end of the wedding I was wishing I had left Tim to his own devices! The guy was insufferable!
Yesterday, after the wedding the three guys came over to thank Tim for all of his hard work and to cut up and hang out with us for a few minutes before heading to the reception. We did not know these young men before this weekend. The fiddle player was not there until the last minute so we REALLY didn’t know him at all- in fact Tim kept saying he didn’t believe he existed because he missed rehearsal and had a flat tire before the wedding and barely made it at all!!They joked around with Tim then headed out. They were thankful and because of that made our night. For such positive, friendly and thoughtful young people, I am thankful!!
We left pretty soon after we loaded up. The reception was lovely, the music was jamming and the food looked great, but we needed to cool off and head home so we left. We stopped part of the way home for a Subway sandwich and we were so hungry and so ready for a break that the Subway sign was a beacon to us. We ate as we drove on, laughing and remembering the day. For a husband I can still laugh and work with, I am exceptionally thankful!
Today as I watched Jon give his dad a father’s day gift, a brick at Coleman Coliseum with both of their names and graduation years inscribed on it and I saw the tears of pride well up in Tim’s eyes, I was overwhelmed by my actual kid, all of the kids we have been able to be a part of their lives and my new “kids” from Montevallo. You add in all of the wonderful things we get to be a part of- weddings, tours, plays and more and I often think I am the luckiest girl alive! So for all of you and all of the things I get to experience I am ever so thankful! 🙂
