best friends forever

One of my longest, bestest friends got married last weekend on a lake island next to an old-south style mansion. Allison had described the location to us and I never doubted it was pretty but the rehearsal dinner, ceremony and reception were so beautiful that it completely exceeded my imagination. Allison's father died suddenly a few months ago. He was one of those uniquely perfect dads, the kind that God gives daughters to take care of and protect. He was definitely present as tropical storm Karen was stalled just long enough to give her a cool, dry and sunny wedding day. We all thought of him when she danced with her mom and at the end as her mom thanked everyone for coming, I thought of how he was supposed to be standing beside his wife, both so proud of their beautiful daughter.
 Her day was full of emotions, both happy and sad and it was one of my favorite weddings of all time. 

Even Emmy had fun, running all over the grassy lawn, dancing with boys, rolling through the house and collecting... um... rocks. Lots of rocks. We danced all night and cheered to the happy couple. 

Although Allison isn't the last of our group to get married, her wedding is the most recent since mine, 2 1/2 years ago and 3 years after the last one we had as bridesmaids. We were all a little rusty on the bridesmaid duties but once the wedding festivities got rolling, our affection for Allison made it easy to know what to do. 

The location for the wedding was about 45 minutes away from Birmingham and the drive was a little long, but I was happy to spend that time chatting with my friends in the car. I've had these friends since I was in high school.  I have known them all for almost 15 years, half of my life! When we spend time together like this, free of husbands and kids, I feel young again. Happy and silly and laughing about things only we understand or even think is funny. We have been through so much together, so many happy and sad times. We have been there for each other through heartache, joy, failure and achievement.  Together, we have cried, laughed, and even laughed so hard we peed our pants.

There is not a moment when I am with them that I feel self-conscious. I never worry that what I say will be misunderstood or misrepresented and turned into gossip. There is something so unique about high school friends. In high school, you spend so much time together. You live close to each other, you take classes together, you stay up as late as possible for sleepovers and you dream about your future together. Then, the future happens. You go to different schools, you move back but not so close to each other. You get married, have kids, work, make new friends and want to go to bed as early as possible. It gets hard to find time for each other. And very rarely do you get to spend time all together at once. 

Spending this weekend with my besties, celebrating and laughing made me so happy and refreshed. And... just a little bit tired too :)

Meet the Hensons

greeting in the vineyards
Ozan Winery, Calera, AL

To start off, you should know a few things about me and my husband, Joe (you know, just to make things less awkward when I assume you are reading this because you know me but, of course, this is the internet and you don't):

1. We met at Birmingham-Southern College, moved in together after 4 years of dating, bought a house together and got married 2 years after that. We really like each other and have the same sense of nerdy, awkward humor. I can't imagine being more myself with anyone else.

one of our first dates- at a karaoke bar!

2. We (I) planned a budget DIY wedding and got married in a southern vineyard with 100 of our closet friends and family. The parts I am most proud of were the location (which was beautiful and breezy for a typically HOT Alabama summer day), the awesome Scottish Bagpiper, the wedding cake my friend's mom made, and our friend Matt DJ'ing and playing the best songs so I danced the WHOLE time. Literally, I felt bad at the end because I couldn't remember anything after the vows except the dancing.

3. Our honeymoon was honestly my dream. Joe had never left the country so I knew we had to go somewhere fairly far away so we spent nearly 2 weeks touring London, Oxford, and Edinburgh and all sorts of places in between. I probably should have started the blog then, we were pretty interesting people and I learned a lot about traveling as a young adult. Also, I should say: I'm an anglophile: completely obsessed with British history and culture.

walking along the thames
seriously guys, this was the LAST picture i took before i got pregnant

4. We brought more than the Queen's teacups back as a souvenir: on father's day we found out that I was pregnant. We weren't completely surprised- we knew the night, we knew what we had done. Our baby was conceived on the last night we were in London so she got the nickname "Baby London".

emmy, one week old
(taken by my sister who happens to be an excellent photographer)

5. We have AMAZING friends and family. I will probably talk about them a lot. Joe and I are really happy and I attribute much of that to how we feel when we are together and with our friends and the support they give us.

Now you're caught up. I will eventually go back and elaborate on these events and such but for now, you know us.