And They All Lived Happily...

Well, it has been the best month ever here at the thebeesknees HQ. June was such an adventure!

On June 18th, under the cover of 6am darkness, we headed off to Maine for Miss Heather and Mr. Ben's wedding. It was the most amazing of times. Maine is beautiful as all get out, so lush and green. It reminded me of Washington, my beloved home state. I knew it even as the plane flew in when I looked out the window at the ocean and all the million little islands. I thought for sure we should just forget about going back to Oakland and stay for always. And with that idea and a few excursions in the rental car, we even found the perfect little beach house, peeling paint, overgrown garden, and everything.

We got to see B-honey and John, Heather's mom and dad. In fact, the entire Stewart clan was there too. (I should say here that I've been trying for several years to become an honorary Stewart. Every time I see them, I sort of joke about it. While they respond with a few polite giggles, I don't think they take me seriously.)

Even dear granny, who won my heart ever so long ago when I "accidentally" called her looking for Heather, traveled to see the joyous occasion. She dressed up special for the wedding in a pink 1950's frock with rhinestones for buttons and perfect little white gloves. Angelic. I was quite impressed. Though I pretended to be mad when Alvaro whispered to me that granny had out-cuted my outfit.

The ceremony was at a quaint little farm in the country, out in the fields with baby turkeys chirping off in the distance and little pink piglets watching the wedding procession as we all paraded through the grass to the spot where they said their vows.

We decorated the tables with all those cranes we've been folding for months. Someone actually counted and said there must have been 500 of them. (Probably mostly folded by Heather, but I recognized a few of my own too!) The cranes, along with jars and jars of wildflowers plucked from a field down the way by Heather's childhood friend Rachel and her beau Witt, made the two long rows of tables just plain heartbreakingly lovely.

After the ceremony and supper, there was some square dancing till dusk, and then a big bonfire and some bonfire music. Heather, Ben, and a bunch of friends got out the banjos and fiddles and guitars and made noise till the wee hours. It was the perfect day.

I don't think I've cried so much since A.V. and I got married in February. I still can't believe how the time has just flown by. It was terribly hard to leave. And not just because we got stuck in the airport for a gazillion hours waiting for the thunder clouds to drift away so our plane could take off. Oh, I hate being so far away from the folks I love.