Back when the wedding date was first figured out, and we knew that Glo wanted a private reception afterwards, I worried if there was no public celebration planned so I asked Shannon Bridge, Gordon's mom, if she and Rich would like to host an open house. She said that she didn't know what that was but that she would do it. We put it on the announcement.
To be honest, I dreaded meeting up with the Bridge family again. I hadn't had the best of experiences with them to date, and I didn't see much hope for anything changing.
I wasn't originally going to attend, but several people told me that I should, so John and I bought tickets to go. As it turned out, we needed a break--a chance to get away--and Glo and Gordon needed some help so it all worked out perfectly.
Gordon was in Phoenix, Glo was in Provo, their wedding gifts were in St. George (at the Bridge home) but needed to be transported down to Phoenix. This is how it happened:
- Gordon flew to Provo.
- We flew to SLC.
- He and Glo drove all of her things up to Salt Lake City in Greenie and met us at the airport where we unloaded Greenie and packed our rental pickup truck. She left Greenie at the airport.
- We drove down to St. George in the pickup truck with everything Glo wanted to move into their apartment in Phoenix.
- We rented a moving van for them (more on that later).
- They drove themselves and their wedding gifts down to Phoenix where they unloaded the van, returned the van and took Glo to the airport so she could fly back to SLC where Greenie was waiting for her.
- We drove the pickup back to SLC and flew back home.
And now the details of that timeline:
I had brought Dom's doughnuts for fun, and when we stopped at Texas Roadhouse for dinner after landing at SLC, our waiter was so great that we ended up offering him a doughnut. He chose red velvet.
We had gotten rooms at the cheapest hotel I could find in St. George, but first we stopped by to see the Bridges despite being exhausted. We spent two hours just chatting with John mostly sharing labor and delivery stories from the past week. They were surprised that G&G weren't staying with them, but all I could think was, "Did you ask them to stay with you?"
Ten different hospices had partnered for a memorial butterfly release for people who had lost loved ones. The event was open to the public so at 10 a.m., we sat down in one of the hundreds of chairs on the lawn. We were given cards to write down memories of people we have lost, and I actually got quite emotional thinking of my dad and my grandparents. John, and G&G didn't have anything to write (lucky suckers!) but I made up for them ;-)
There was a short program and then we were each given a flat triangle-shaped box which contained a live butterfly. At the appropriate moment, we were told to open our box and released the butterfly as a symbol of remembering our loved one. It was a really touching moment, seeing all these butterflies released at the same time. John ended up looking how much it cost to order butterflies in hopes of doing it at Hannah's wedding!
An hour later, we had a van for the kids. There were so many miracles in finding that--Heavenly Father is always aware of us. The plan had been to go get the wedding gifts and bring them back to the hotel to open them in a calm, private setting, but Shannon really wanted to see what they got, so we showered at the hotel and headed over to the Bridge home.
Speaking of the Bridge home, I've never felt so intimidated walking into someone's home. If I had a dream home, it would be their home. It was new, and HUGE, and painted beautifully, and HUGE, with a gorgeous, large kitchen that was also HUGE. And their backyard? Pergolas lined the home with "misters" that took me back to Disneyland on a scorching hot day. Off the pergola-covered patios was the in-ground pool with a jacuzzi and fountains for when people aren't swimming. On the other side of the pool was a pickle ball court, and to the left of the pool and the pickle ball court was a cement track for scooters and bikes which surrounded an in-ground trampoline. It was all beautifully landscaped too. Seriously, I don't know why the Bridges didn't volunteer their home for the wedding reception, because it was HUGE enough and beautiful enough to do so.
We went upstairs to open presents. While Sam and his wife and her sister all snuggled on the bed, the rest of us were relegated to the floor of an 8'x10' bedroom. Well, Shannon sat in a chair, but G&G and John and I and Rich were on the floor. After the fifth gift, Rich left and didn't return. With each gift, Shannon would ask, "What do you think THIS ONE is?" with a response from her children that usually involved guns. It certainly wasn't what Glo and John and I were hoping for in opening gifts. I mean, not having family, the gifts that were sent by friends meant so much to us, and we wanted to really appreciate the moment. It wasn't until Sam (and now Ben, another brother who had joined us) started popping the bubble wrap that I could see Glo was about to lose it. This wasn't what or how she wanted things to happen in the first place, and they were fulfilling her worst fears. I actually had to ask them to take it down because Glo was feeling overwhelmed.
There was no moment to just sit back and appreciate, but instead Glo consolidated everything into boxes and the brothers took everything out to the van while John loaded it. At this point, Glo had a splitting headache, and I knew I needed to get her out of there. We went back to the hotel so she could lay down for 30 minutes before we had to head back for the open house.
I had very mixed feelings about the open house. The Bridges had acted SO POORLY at the wedding reception that I honestly wanted to give some pay back and act poorly for their open house, but the thought came to my mind that I don't want people to think the Kennedys are poorly behaved. So we got dressed and went with "Gute Laune" as the Germans put it.
Shannon had gotten Chipotle for food, and it looked amazing. She had also rented a soft-serve ice cream machine along with nine round tables and chairs for the patio. The misters were going, and there were flowers on the tables surrounded by photos of G&G (I insert this description because I think nobody took a single photo). G&G stood by the front door, and people started arriving. As it turned out, John and I ended up close to the front door as well so we ended up being some kind of receiving line which was fine with us. It was fun to meet so many friends and family of the Bridges!
Near the end of the two hours, I turned around and was surprised to see Bruce and Marcia Covington from State College! Marcia was the RS president when I broke my ankle, and to this day I still think of her wise words to me when I wanted to be angry at Heavenly Father for allowing it to happen--in fact, I used her example in a talk just weeks ago. I was thrilled to be reunited with them, and we spent a good 45 minutes talking. She couldn't get over how stunning Glo was and wished that she could hear her play violin.
What's that you say? You want to hear her play?
Glo was scheduled to play in church the next day, and we had practiced just hours earlier. We dragged Marcia back into the bedroom with Shannon's keyboard (and Bruce came too), and while Glo was bringing out Sven, we noticed the automatic shades were being raised in the bedroom (oh, okay, as Glo said). We then played for them, and the best moment of the night? When Marcia said, "Well I guess those weekly lessons in Philadelphia paid off!" They couldn't stop raving about how beautifully Glo played, and it was so touching to know that they had known her since a child and could really appreciate all the hard work and practice of so many years on Glo's part.
After they left, I went back out to the patio to continue talking to people under the night sky. There's really nothing like an evening in the desert. Glo, having gotten rid of her headache with Naproxen and a Diet Coke, needed to decompress. She went out to the trampoline with two of her now cousins-in-law (age 5 and 8) and just jumped and jumped and jumped. And then she hopped in the pool afterwards, still in her white dress.
At this point, Rich came up to me and said, "Wow. You were talking to everybody tonight."
Yes Rich, that's what you do at a party or a reception or an open house. You talk to people. Maybe you can make a note of that next time our children get married and you and your family won't embarrass me at the party I throw and John pays for.
The next morning dawned early with church starting at 9 a.m. We got there early to tune, and Shannon was already there, sitting in the back. We told her that we needed to sit near the front, but she didn't move. We were actually one of three musical numbers (!), but as John said, we were the best ;-) We needed to leave quickly afterwards so that we could get G&G back to their van so they could book it down to Phoenix, but first we turned to say goodbye.
Not a single Bridge family member was there. They knew we were leaving, and not one was there to say goodbye.
As we walked out of the church, the grandparents found us and took Glo's violin (so she didn't need to fly with it). They gave us hugs as they were headed home to make lunch for everyone. But everyone else? Didn't see them at all. Weirdest thing ever. We drove the one minute back to the house where G&G changed clothes and grabbed some Diet Cokes. I had given Glo Crispy Fruit for the drive. John helped Glo set her mirrors for her blind spot (with me as the clueless driver), and we waved them off. It felt surreal knowing that they are a family now.
Thankfully G&G made it to Phoenix with Glo driving the entire way (as John says, Glo is amazing--she just takes care of business without getting flustered), and we made it back to SLC to fly home. We all had flight delays so Monday was rough, but it was a successful weekend all around.
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| Everything is unloaded...but definitely not unpacked ;-) |
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