The day before the wedding of my son and his Sweetie. A hectic day! A busy day! A full day! A fun day! A frantic day! A wonderful day!

It started with a family breakfast at Grandma J’s room. (She and I have had so much fun planning and scheming this wedding for months. We have become truly good friends.) She made fabulous cinnamon rolls for everyone and the kids were sporting their new pirate flip-flops.

After tummies were filled, all non-essential personnel headed to the beach. The rest of us began last minute preparations for the wedding ceremony, and the rehearsal and dinner that night.

Let’s see, the day before, Grandma J, New Sweetie and I had made gift pails for each room for the wedding guests. They were filled with Irish beers and Irish water. The kids are convinced the Irish water turns your tongue green! I never heard of Irish water before. I wonder what makes it Irish? Also some lovely suntan lotion, seashell shaped chocolates, a koozie with the wedding logo and green cups with the wedding logo.

We also made pirate pails for each child in attendance. Each pail had a shovel, a pirate eye patch, pirate themed candy and popcorn, stickers, tattoos, small wooden plaques,

bubbles and anything else we could find with a pirate look to it. They were so cute, we each wanted one ourselves, but they were only for the kids. Darn!

Can you tell by now that the wedding has a Celtic theme with a pirate subtext? Perfect for a beach setting, really.

Anyway, back to the day before – off we 3 musketeers (2 moms and bride) went in search of flowers. New Sweetie wanted sunflowers, which were actually growing everywhere along the roads and in every open field. We discussed cutting them, but they just weren’t big enough. Unbelievably, we found the most gorgeous huge sunflowers in a local grocery store! Is that actually possible? AND all the extra flowers for ALL the arrangements! Right there – next to the fresh fruits and vegetables! The gods were truly with us!

Buying all the liquor was a different story, however. It seems EVERYONE must be ID’d at that store and New Sweetie did not have her D.L. with her. The cashier was about to make her put it all back, when I came to the rescue. That’s right, I had to show my ID to buy beer and wine for the rehearsal dinner! ME!  65 year old Granny! I was tinkled pink! I haven’t been carded in 35 years! Made my day!!

Back at the beach, friends and family continued to arrive. Hugs and kisses all around. Meeting and greeting.

Time for the rehearsal – no presiding judge. Seems she typed the wrong town into her GPS and ended up farther away than when she started. No problem. We had the rehearsal dinner first. We are nothing, if not flexible!

The dinner was a catered BBQ outside on a large two tier wooden deck with a grand view of the ocean at sunset. Lots of conversation. Lots of laughter. Lots of fun. Lots of love. It was perfect.

We never did have a rehearsal! But that’s okay. We had everything else. We had everything that mattered – each other.

Tomorrow – a wedding!