Today was something of a miracle. We put on a party...a celebration of my sister's marriage that took place almost three months ago. We were, in essence, the caterers for the event. It was a low-key gathering of family and friends of the newlyweds.
My ex-husband likes to barbecue. My oldest daughter's boyfriend Tyler has been a banquet captain and my girls worked with him for a while doing banquet serving while they were in college. Today my fiance and my ex-husband and my two daughters, the boyfriend, my older sister and Andrew's cousin put on the barbecue for 100 people and set up the room in an old barn for the reception dinner.
The boys set up the tables for me and Rebecca brought the linens, which she and Tyler insisted we must have. They were all white with some purple ones for accents. Rebecca and Tyler "clouded" the serving table with purple linens, meaning they gathered some tablecloths along the tabletop in pillow-top fashion and arranged the platters and food on top of it. My older sister brought gravevines which we used to string along the tables and on the walls for decoration. She had a bunch of spider plants in 4"container which she wrapped in purple foil and set amongst the grapevines. Rebecca and I had wrapped all the plastic forks and knives in purple napkins and tied them with green satin ribbon. I had made the bride's favorite butter cake with chocolate buttercream frosting and set up a pretty cake table using some grapevine swags for accents on a three-tiered cake stand. Jayne had decorated a guest book for the occasion and with some borrowed accessories like a grape-motif punch decanter and silver wine bowl and some electric swag grape-lights, we created a beautiful room in an old barn. It was all white and deep purple and green. It was really a sight!
I'm sure some of my family members and the guests who know us wondered at how I managed to get my ex and my fiance working together in this endeavor. I saw a couple of my brothers (I have six brothers) go over and give Bill a hug, and I was so glad. It can be hard to be the ex around relatives.
But the real miracle was that my ex was barbecuing and my fiance was his helper on this day. That had always been Andrew's job. My nephew was working there in Andrew's place, too, and that's good. Andrew showed them the way and they honored him today by taking over his duties. Of course, it took two of them to do his job... : ))
It's different for Bill, not having Andrew helping him, but I think he enjoyed today's process. It also gave him a chance to talk to my fiance, Lee, while they were barbecuing. After we got home later that evening, Bill called to let me know he and the girls will be joining us at our grief counseling session tomorrow. After four months, they are ready.
Hallelujah! I am so happy.
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