Sunday, November 30, 2014

Words Count
















After the good food and conversation of Thanksgiving, Mom brought this out to share: a letter from my Dad to a very young me.  Evidently there was a time in my life when going to school made me quite unhappy.  This letter changed that.  Oh, how it changed that.

"Dear Carol,
I can write this to you because I went to school and Vicki can read it because she went to school also.  Everyone has to go to school so they can learn to read and write.  I will be very happy when you can read and write.  Be happy when you go to school and you will learn much faster.
Remember I love you.
Dad"

How lucky am I to have a Dad who would write such a letter of encouragement?  And how lucky am I to have a Mom who would keep this letter to give to me so many years later?

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Home is wherever I'm with you...



Embroidery sampler gift, made by Bridget Page.





















On November 1, 2014, All Saints’ Day, Eric and I exchanged vows at the Gadsden Museum of Art with most of our family and our closest friends in attendance.  The ceremony was epically and blessedly short (five minutes), and was hilariously cheered on midway through with a cry of “YAY” from the smallest of our guests (Anna Kate evidently cheers after the “amen” part of prayer when she prays, which may be both the most impossibly adorable thing I’ve ever heard of AND most sensible.  I may drop the “amen” and adopt the “YAY” for myself in future praying), and a standing ovation (what awesomeness!).   This five-minute ceremony left us plenty of time to eat, talk with guests, and dance with a handful of the most hard-partying youngsters, most of whom were under the age of ten.   Our wedding week was filled with cooking and communing (we opted to cater our own gluten free non-rehearsal dinner on Friday evening and the wedding reception on Saturday…could not have done this without the expert advice and assistance of our dear friends Todd and Dawn Rains, who cater professionally).  It was magical!

And although brother and sister-in-law McKenna and Steven jokingly claimed that our wedding would be covered by the Gadsden Times, friend and columnist Glenda Byars did give us a nod in her weekly column:  "And on a crisp autumn Saturday, Carol York and Eric Wright were married in a unique and precious ceremony. The bride was beautiful in antique white and the groom was appropriately handsome and smiling. Carol said later, 'The saying is correct, Eric: Home is wherever I am with you!'"

Photo used with permission, copyright Elisha Page.