Wedding Planning-- Good stuff

I have been having so much fun with my daughter making wedding plans!! The other day we met at Sweetwaters Cafe to go over the plans for the flowers. We met at this comfy coffeeshop in the Kerrytown district of Ann Arbor because I wanted Anne to see a really interesting jewelry shop upstairs. We sat at the table next to the window which you can see on the far right of the right photo above. I am so blessed that my daughter is including me in her wedding plans. It's been great! And I think we have the flowers planned within budget! Good times.

Then we went upstairs to Princess Designs. I love this little jewelry shop. All the jewelry is hand made by the owner who runs the store. She has lots of unique designs made with a variety of materials and all very reasonable. I thought Anne might find something she would like for the bridesmaids. Guess what? She found the jewelry for herself for the wedding! It's gorgeous and the owner is custom making one of the pieces. We both felt really comfortable with her. She was willing to give her honest opinion, but only when asked. She was helpful in figuring out what Anne would like and offering suggestions. The pieces are gorgeous. And much less expensive than what I would expect to pay for custom hand made jewelry crafted of these materials. In order to keep the bridal outfit confidential I won't go into more detail until after the wedding. Very successful shopping trip!

Well, it was nearly lunchtime by the time we finished the fun at Princess Designs. Zingerman's Deli is just a block away so we HAD to go there. John lives just a block on the other side of Zingerman's so we called him. Anne left him a message, "Hey, John, come over to Zingerman's. Mom's buying." LOL Needless to say, he joined us. Zingerman's, while a little pricey, has the best sandwiches in the world.

As I sat on the outside patio at Zingerman's I was reminded of having been there over twenty years ago. I had two children at the time, Mike and Anne, and I believe Anne was still a toddler. It was a gorgeous day and my sister was with us. It was peaceful. The kids were running around and Anne was picking up little crumbs of bread and feeding them to the birds. She and Mike were having so much fun, laughing and running. My sister and I were so enjoying being with them. I remember saying to her, "There is not a job in the world that would give me more satisfaction than being able to sit here at Zingerman's watching Annie feed the birds." It was one of those moments where you just thank God for the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom.

And now, here I was, sitting on the same patio, helping her plan her wedding. It brought tears to my eyes.

God is so good. Always.