Life Lesson #3: Love, actually, is all around.

I've spent the past 24 hours wondering how I would describe the weekend. Words have seemed to escape me and I appear to have the fluidity of...of...well I don't even know. I'm fairly certain, though, that a kindergartner may do a better job at recapping the glorious wedding I attended on Saturday.
I keep putting off this post. I unpack, post pictures, nap, do lots of other things not because I don't want to write about the wedding and vacation but because I find myself at such a complete loss for words, I am actually embarrassed and a little bit ashamed. To be honest, the above half dozen sentences have been written and re-written over the course of 12 hours. Sad, I know.
I knew that Buttercup loved Westley and that Westley loved Buttercup. If that wasn't true, I would have been seriously opposed to the nuptials and probably would have done my best to talk Buttercup out of getting married. Instead, I was lucky enough to sit front row as Buttercup had her first date, first said 'I love you', bought numerous gifts, planned numerous trips to him (it was a long distance relationship), counted the days till she could see him again, screamed with happiness over the engagement ring, stressed over the wedding details and cry with happiness over the wedding vows.
The drive from my apartment to the wedding site was a grand total of 10 hours. Everyone was shocked that I would drive (my parents came too) with my toddler son 10 hours for the wedding. I was shocked that they were shocked. If Buttercup had gotten married in North Korea, I would have 1: tried to talk some sense into her and 2: bought a plane ticket. One of my best friends was getting married, a pack of wild mothers and mothers-in-law couldn't have kept me away.
Gus did phenomenal on the trip. I was so proud of him and pleasantly surprised as he had never been in a car ride longer than 3 hours. We stopped in Minneapolis and met up with Schnookems which was a wonderful unexpected side trip. She hadn't seen Gus since he was a month old. We did some light shopping and caught up while Gus ran around stretching his legs. And by running around, I mean he went up and down the escalators while my dad followed him around like a body guard.
We got to WI in the early evening, which gave us plenty of time to unpack and dink around. I was thrilled to see Dora who has spent the last month in Italy for May term "studying". She had to rush off to the rehearsal dinner so we walked around historic downtown and grabbed some dinner. Warning: Chocolate Milk is like crack to toddlers. Gus had a huge glass and was the most hyper I had ever seen him. Putting him to sleep was disastrous.
The following day was The Big Day and it was gloriously beautiful from the moment the sun woke up. The ceremony took place outside in a garden museum at 3PM. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. There were less than a 100 people in attendance, all classically classy, anxiously awaiting the nuptials. The moment the bridesmaids-Dora, Sookie and Drizzella-walked out, I started to cry. Buttercup was at last getting her wish, she was marrying her Prince Charming. Her fairytale was coming true. Her happily ever after was about to begin.
She truly was breathtaking in her White House Black Market gown accented with a navy ribbon. As the harpist played, her father walked her to Westley, who was tearing up at the sight of his Princess. The two of them, standing together, holding hands and exchanging vows as old as love itself, everyone in attendance knew they were witnessing something special, that this wasn't something fleeting, that this wasn't something that would end with properties being split, kids choosing holidays and weekends, this would end in eternity with them together just as they are now.
Westley dipped his bride in a movie star kiss, sealing what I already knew...he loved her more than life itself just as she did him. We clapped, we cried, we melted in the humidity and sun and we felt the love that was all around. By the time we got back into the car, we still had over an hour before cocktails would be served at the country club so we went back to the hotel to cool off.
The country club was beautiful, of course. The centerpieces perfect, classy, timeless, elegant. The DJ played Buble, Sinatra, Norah Jones. Really, everything about the reception was wonderful. There was even a cute dentist there for me! He was an usher in the wedding and he showed up with a girlfriend...but they have only been dating a month and really, what's a month? I told Westley to break them up. He's on it. Such a good friend. :) Gus found his future-bride, a 13 month old girl named Layla. They were the second cutest couple there and did their best to tear up the dance floor.
Everything was drama-free, which, in my opinion, is all you can ask for out of a wedding. No one was fall down drunk. No one made any embarrassing speeches. The Best Man speech was touching yet light. The MOH speech by Drizzella was good, I thought there was a jab at me in there but I may have been paranoid. It was great. Perfect. Everything you could ask for.
There was a time, though, when you would look at Westley and Buttercup on the dance floor. They may have been slow dancing to Sinatra or fast dancing to Ke$ha, it didn't matter because they were clearly the only two people in the room. The happiness they were feeling was actually palpable, you felt as if you could reach out and touch it, grab it and hold on to it like fairy dust.
As I watched the two of them who were so obviously one, my heart swelled and there was not one ounce of jealousy or envy. I didn't wonder if I would ever have that or ever be lucky enough to have even half of what they have. Instead, I looked at them and smiled with tears in my eyes, knowing that fairy tales do come true, that happily ever after does exist, that sometimes frogs become princes, that sometimes the cliches are right and love, actually, is all around.
I love you, Buttercup, and words cannot describe how happy I am for you. So this one post, this one time, I have reserved my sarcasm and been sincere because there is nothing funny about the love you two share, it is all real and it, my dear, will last longer than a lifetime.