"Franck thought it would be great to have swans waddling around the tulip border ..."

When my friend Adrienne and I were in middle school, she lived at my house for a brief period one summer.  Her family was getting ready to move to Peru to be missionaries, and while her parents traveled around speaking to churches and things like that, she lived with me for awhile.  During this time, we watched "Father of the Bride" (on VHS of course) nearly every day.  I couldn't tell you why, but it was our absolute favorite movie at the time.  To this day we quote that movie and giggle hysterically (that should explain the title of this entry if it has you scratching your head)

Shortly after our "Father of the Bride" days, Adrienne took off to Peru for about six years.  We kept in touch a little bit over the years, and I was thrilled when she moved back to the US for college and we settled back into a friendship.  Four years ago, she joined our group of friends on a trip to a cabin for New Year's.  She knew us all, but was still getting reacquainted with the group after her lengthy absence in our lives.  It was on this trip that she confided in me that she thought our friend Nick was a pretty cool guy.  We went to middle school with Nick, but at that point in our lives, boys and girls did NOT talk to each other, so they really didn't know each other well before this trip.  

This is really the only photo I have with them both in it from that trip.  Adrienne is the one in the black shirt in the front and Nick is the silly brown-haired guy in the back.  

Over the next months I watched their relationship develop. The New Year's trip flirtation led to an "It's not a date" coffee date, followed by some real dates, that led to a really wonderful relationship. There were happy times, funny times, and a rough patch or two along the way... but in December she called me and told me the wonderful news that they were getting married!!! In the last months I've celebrated her wedding shower and bachelorette party, and about a week and half ago, I got to celebrate her wedding!!!  I cried through the ENTIRE ceremony and smiled through the entire reception.  I could not be more happy for these two!

Last night, all of our (local) friends gathered at Allison's to say goodbye to Nick and Adrienne.  They moved to Illinois today.  I will miss seeing them frequently, but know that this is just a new phase in our friendship.  There are many more good times to come.