Tinkle, tinkle, little star... ATF

So my baby sister got married yesterday.

Well, she's not technically my baby sister. She actually belongs to The Man. I guess she now technically belongs to a new man though, huh? I digress.

My baby sister got married yesterday.

WOW! What an event. And of course I have a kid-story to tell. You ready?

The wedding and reception were held at the beautiful Lakeside Center in Navarre, Ohio. Please check out that link. This post will make a little more sense if you can get a visual of where the wedding took place.

I am in my very pink bridesmaid dress, in line behind my SIL Alison. Behind me in line is my new friend Rachael, followed by the MOH Erin. After Erin is Michael, the ring bearer (also The Man's youngest cousin, age 4). After Michael, Maggie and Emile were in all of their flower girl glory. Those two looked like princesses, with their hair all done up, in their beautiful ivory dresses, cute shoes, and baskets full of rose petals.

We walked out, one by one, to meet up with the groomsmen (including The Man), in front of the little bridge that leads out to the gazebo. You'll see the gazebo in that link, and you can see the bridge on that site. All was going beautifully, including the fact that the girls did a wonderful job of spreading those petals in front of their aunt as she was walking.

The Bride and Groom made it out to the gazebo, and Maggie took her place next to Alison while Emile stood next to me. Everything was perfect. Uncle Irwin even made the call to the weather people and the rain stopped just before the ceremony began, and stayed away until after the event was over. (Did I mention that Lakeside Center belongs to The Man's Aunt and Uncle?)

A Bride was given away, passages were read by selected family members, tears were shed. It was all going along very well. Then I noticed it. Yes, IT. The unmistakable Dance of Impending Doom being done by my darling baby, right by my side. She had to go, and I mean go.

Are you picturing this? Back and forth, one foot to the other, back and forth, like she was doing the steps to a very intricate dance, this child swayed and moved. Finally, she looked up at me and stage whispers... "Momma, I really have to go." Not having a clue what the protocol is for disappearing flower girls, I whisper back..."Can you hold it for just a few more minutes?" "I'll try," she stoically replies. Another minute goes by. Then... "Momma, really bad." Expecting to hear the sound of liquid hitting the lake below us at any time, I lean down to her and say, "Baby, they're almost done. Wait until you feel like you're going to explode, ok?"

See, we hadn't covered this part in rehearsal. I had no clue what to do. I knew only that the event was being filmed, and that I was sure to hear about my youngest leaving in the middle of the ceremony. Not to mention the fact that I was envisioning all sorts of things. She could have tripped and fallen in the lake if she went by herself. She could have gotten to the bathroom and decided not to come back. She could have slipped on the stone path up to the house and dirtied her pretty dress. How much longer can this possibly take? I wondered to myself. I got my answer... A LOT, at least in the mind of my jig-dancing baby.

When she had reached maximum capacity, she looked up at my with her huge eyes and said, "Momma? I tink I'm gonna 'splode now." I glanced over at The Man and shrugged my shoulders. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Someone would stand up and scream that they were gonna call the flower girl police? I 'tink' not. So I gave her the rules: No running. Straight there, straight back. No running. Wash your hands. NO running.

She went off the back bridge, doing a power walk that would have made one of those mallwalkers proud. She was back in under two minutes. I have no idea if she ran when out of my sight, but she came back with no stains on her dress. And a huge, very relieved, smile on her face.

She stayed right there by my side for the remainder of the ceremony, very still and serious in her offical flower-girl capacity. She only slipped up and lost it one single time. When the preacher said, "I now pronounce you Man and Wife. You may kiss the Bride," she pulled on my hand and in a very plain voice asked, "So now can we call him UNCLE?" I giggled and nodded yes. He's been an unofficial member of the family for quite a while, but they all waited until they could officially bestow that special name.

And can I just add that the Bride and Groom never even knew that she was gone until after the ceremony, when I apologized?

Anyhow, welcome to the family, UNCLE Andrew. I am so thankful that my baby sister brought me a new brother!