I Never Saw it Coming....

I am back.  

And I am tired.

Daughters #2 & #3 just drove off to go back to school.

Son #3 dumped me before I even got home!

The girls left yesterday morning at 5:30 a.m. to drive to Houston.  Then we caught a plane to Lubbock at 11:15.  

We went to the wedding of one of my best friend's daughter last night ..... another young woman who is like a daughter to me.  They've all been friends since they were 6.

And now our babies are getting married.

The wedding was in a small, lovely chapel.  It was very sweet and wonderful and full of love.

I have been so focused on my friend and her feelings and thoughts and emotions for this wedding (and so focused on all of the hospital stuff)  ...... that I never saw it coming.

I should have and I'm a bit ticked at myself for not seeing it ..... not expecting it.

This was my first wedding in over 14 months.  The first wedding of one of our daughters.

And really, truly ...... I never, ever ...... saw it coming.

Until I turned in expectation to watch her walk down the aisle ........ and saw her walking on the arm of her father.

And I thought my knees were going to buckle.

It was as if someone suddenly hit me very hard ..... knocking the breath out of me.

And then ..... just seconds later ...... I heard .....

"Her mother and I".

And I really thought I was going to have to bolt for the door.  I was stifling huge sobs that were suddenly in the back of my throat.  If this wedding at been in a larger place, where no one would have noticed ..... I would have bolted.

But I couldn't.  And I couldn't let anyone around me see that I was in pain.  

I was there for her.

And my daughters were sitting on either side of me ..... and I had no idea what thoughts and emotions were churning inside of them when they heard the words that they will never hear at their weddings.

These tsunami waves are just that ..... very, very sudden, coming out of nowhere, and so very hard to struggle against.

I wonder ..... will-they-ever-cease?

But, the wedding was beautiful, the reception was fun (in spite of the waves that continued to hit me throughout the evening ..... every once in a while), and the later it got, the more fun we had.

I'm glad I went.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I just wish I'd have seen it coming ..... so I could've braced myself for the wave.  

It still would've hit, but when you see a wave coming, and you brace yourself, many times you're still standing when it rolls back into the ocean.

And now for something completely different.

On the way home from the airport I stopped to pick up this:

Yes, Sassy is in the building!

And here is Gabby, meeting her for the very first time (in the arms of Daughter #2):

It was love at first sight .... at least for Gabby.  Sassy seems to like her, but is also a bit overwhelmed by her, and by the absence of brother ..... and probably her parents.

At the moment Sassy is lying in my lap and Gabby is lying next to us in "her" chair.  

And it's very, very quiet.

For now.

I'll leave  you with a video of their first meeting:

And OMG ---pray that I don't get another one of these fabulous puppies!!!!  I need your prayers and strength!!!!!