Giving it All Up
So I survived the wedding festivities. And they were amazing and fabulous and wonderful.
And mostly what I've been doing the last four days has been wedding-related. Thursday and Friday were all about set-up. Saturday and Sunday were all about the actual celebration.
The wedding was at 5 PM, under a blazing hot sun (thank you all who prayed for good weather), and with the exception of a wee bit of time devoted to setting up the venue in the morning, most of the day was for getting ready. As in a gaggle of girls–the wedding party–and some olds–me and my two sisters–in a hotel room getting hair and make-up done. We drank champagne and ate chocolate chip cookies and watermelon while photographers snapped photos and various husbands, brothers, and groomsmen lurked about.
The wedding and the celebration after are all a blur in my mind, but I do know there were toasts and good food and wine and old friends and family and dancing–lots of dancing. (That's a photo of the tent above, and its about the only picture I managed to take.) How can you sit still when a bluegrass band is playing? And yesterday there was more fun, an open house at my daughter's new home, and last night one last family dinner, a time for eating up the leftovers from the rehearsal dinner on Friday night and gossiping about the celebration.
My point in relaying all this is not only to tell you about the wedding. It is to remind myself–and anyone who happens to have read this far–of the benefits of giving it all you got. We well and truly celebrated my daughter's wedding, threw everything we had into it and then gave a little more. And got back a hundred thousand time what we put into it.
Now, I'm exhausted and trying to catch up with all the work that went undone while I was giving the wedding everything I had (If I owe you an email, and I do, because I owe everyone on the planet an email, I'll be getting to you soon). It is still hard to think about anything but the wedding, and the people who were there, and what we all chatted about, and who danced with whom, and how much fun it all was. But here's the deal: when my brain finally does settle down and is ready to get back to work, I'm going to be so much richer for it. My writing is going to be so much richer for it.
Because the time will come, soon, very soon, when I am readily and happily giving my writing everything I got. Until it is time to give something else my full and complete attention–all I got. It has taken me years to figure this out, that giving all I got to one thing doesn't mean I can't give it all I got when the time comes for something else.
I'm glad I finally figured it out.
***Coming soon, very, very soon–a new blog design, yay! I've been working on this for a couple months and we are getting very close to unveiling it so stay tuned.
Karen
Awww Charlotte, You sound happy and “tired” in the best way possible. Thank you for sharing details, and I’m so amazed at how you recovered from the fever last week. Sun shine on you all. XO
Charlotte Dixon
Thanks Karen, I am very happy tired! Thanks for your good thoughts.