John & Sue's Wedding!

Some of you may remember me writing about my dear friend, Julie, who died of ovarian cancer two years ago.  She was one of my dearest friends and I truly miss her.   Her husband, John, is one of the nicest, sweetest men you would ever meet.  He was truly devastated when she passed away.   I don't want to go into all the details about Julie's death, because this is a HAPPY post!

John found a wonderful woman that he and Julie both knew and their friendship turned to true love and they were married today!  Sue is a wonderful lady and is quite good for John!  They make a lovely couple, and you can just feel the love between the two of them.  I'm so incredibly happy for them both!   John spent quite a few years with rodeos before he was injured in a construction accident.  He was and still is actively involved in the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association and High School Rodeo, as well.  From what I know, Sue was also involved in rodeo, but I'm not sure how.  This was Sue's first wedding, which made it even more special in my eyes.  Anyway, as you've probably guessed by now, this was a "cowboy" wedding!

The bride and groom wore jeans and cowboy boots.  Sue wore a beautiful white embroidered western shirt, and her two bridesmaids wore turquoise cowboy shirts.  John and the groomsmen were wearing burgundy cowboy shirts, and of course, cowboy hats.

The minister they had for the ceremony was Sue's family minister for many years, until he retired.  According to Sue, he was quite honored to be able to come out of retirement and perform the wedding service!  His service was AWESOME!  He had an amazing sense of humor and we had quite a few chuckles through the ceremony!

Because the service was at 1:30, and I had to work, I had called John on Thursday and told him that I wasn't sure we'd be able to make it to the service.  I could tell he was saddened at that news, but what was I to do?  I work 40 miles from home, and the wedding was another 40 miles away.  I couldn't afford to take a day off work, and I knew John knew that and understood.   I didn't want him to think that I didn't feel it important enough to be present at the service, as I desperately wanted to be there.

When I finished all my paperwork on Friday, and was able to spend some time in the greenhouse, getting things ready for Saturday, I started to believe that maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to get out of work in time to make it to the ceremony!   Saturday morning rolled around, and I was at work at 6 a.m., and things were going well.  My young helper, Megan, is AWESOME!  She's just a tiny thing, about 5'4" tall or so, and not even 100 pounds!  Like I said, just a little thing!  She's in high school and has been helping me get plants together and out out for the various routes for about five months now.  She's a quick learner, and an amazing helper!  She's learned a lot since we've been working together and we work really well together.  She's learning the plants and where they are and is always willing to run here and there to grab something for me.  So, at about 7 a.m., or so, she was able to get started helping me and we made quick work of everything we had to do.  We saved the 6" crotons ((picture here)for last, and I thought we'd have to sleeve up about 150 of them, but Mandy, who's in charge of 6" plants, asked that we use some other ones that were already sleeved up.  WAHOO!  Didn't have to ask me twice!  LOL  That saved at least 30 minutes of work!  I was actually able to get my paperwork done and leave work at 10:36 a.m.!  (The previous Saturday was atrocious, and I didn't get out of there until 2 p.m., which was why I didn't hold out much hope for today.)

So, at 10:36, I was out of there and heading home!   Yehaw!   I got home, took a record breaking quick shower, and even managed to shave my legs, put on my make-up, got dressed, did my hair and the girls and I were on our way!   We still had a 45 minute drive, but it was looking like we were going to make it! We had to drive to Merrill, WI, a town that I'd never really been to before.  It's a small town, but it's bigger than Abbotsford . . .  I took Highway 29 east to County Road 107 . . . what a TREAT!  It's an awesomely hilly road!  It's one of those county roads where the hills are such that if you speed up a bit and hit them just right, you can make your stomach drop!  I LOVE roads like that!  LOLOL  Erica was in the front seat with me, and was watching and knew what I was doing, as I'd hit the gas when we were coming up on a hill, but Abby wasn't paying attention.  Finally, after about six times of that, I hit a really GOOD one!  It was a short hill, but went down right away, where you couldn't see what was over the the other side.  (I know you know what I'm talking about!)  So, I hit that one at a good clip (I'm not going to tell you how fast I was going!), and when we went over, I know ALL of our stomachs dropped!  Abby even let out a yelp from the back seat!  That just made my day!  LOL

OK, back to the wedding.  Sorry!  This has turned out way longer than I expected!  Thanks if you're still here with me!

Here's a few pictures from the wedding . . .

The happy groom . . .   He was injured in a work accident quite a few years ago, and is disabled because of it.  From what I remember, he is lucky to be able to walk.

His lovely bride!

During the ceremony

The happy couple!

I LOVE this picture!

These are our friends, Chuck and Judy, who drove up from Milwaukee for the wedding!

And finally, a picture of me and my beautiful girls, Erica and Abby!  I LOVE this picture and am going to have it printed professionally!

I know that my dear friend, Julie, was smiling down on all of us and gave her blessings to John.  I know she worried about him being alone when she was gone.   Although I miss her dearly, one day, I will see her in heaven.  For now, on this earth, I am so very happy for John and Sue and pray that they will have a blessed and wonderful life together.