Super Bowl Sunday

I am not a football fan.  I will admit that I got sucked into the World Series this year but I have no desire to follow along with the football playoffs as we near the 2017 Super Bowl.  The game will be on when I work (well, assuming it is still going at 8pm) but other than that, you won’t find me stressing over it.

On the 2008 Super Bowl Sunday, I went wedding dress shopping with my Mom.  Kenyon and I were engaged on December 18, 2007 and were planning a possible destination wedding to the Oregon Coast in September of 2008.  My sister Jenny was engaged to (now husband) Will and I didn’t want to over shadow their wedding plans.  I had a conversation with my Grandma A. who wanted to know why the delay in the pending nuptials.  She said, “if you two love each other, than what are you waiting for?”  We had time off on the calendar at our respective jobs for March of 2008 and when I casually mentioned to Mom the idea of getting married sooner she said her and Dad would fly to New Mexico to join Kenyon’s family if we wanted to get married during our time off.  Kenyon and I wanted to move in together but we both believed in the traditional values of being married first.  So, a wedding was planned in just a few short months.

When we arrived at David’s Bridal explaining that our wedding was roughly six weeks away, they sort of panic.  In order for a gown to be ready in that amount of time you have to buy off the rack.  Despite my hard work at losing weight as a Weight Watcher member, and being down 80 pounds, I was still a size 20.  I wasn’t even looking for a traditional wedding gown at first.  The plan was to get married in the living room of Kenyon’s brother’s house.  That didn’t scream white dress and black tuxedo.

I found a pale purple bridesmaid dress that fit me really nicely.  It has rousing across the middle area and pleats along the length of the dress.  It was beautiful.  When I went to try it on, my mother suggested I at least try on a few white gowns since we were there.  I didn’t find anything I really loved and worried about the cost.  The sale clerk came out with a dress that had previously been put on layaway, was paid in full, and never picked up.  It was a size 20 and they were going to sell it to me for $99.  I tried it on and it fit perfectly.

The time I spent in that dressing room debating on if I really wanted the white gown, I remember looking at the photos on the wall of the brides in their white gowns smiling next to their grooms in black tuxedos.  I secretly longed to be one of those brides smiling next to their groom and that picture in my head didn’t include getting married at my soon-to-be brother-in-law’s house.  My Mom and I debated back and forth so long the store had closed and the kind clerk was waiting on us to make our decision.  I knew this was my dress and I knew I wanted a more traditional wedding.

I called Kenyon and informed him he was getting a tux and we were looking for a new wedding venue (that is another long story but eventually we found the perfect place).

As it turns out, by the time I added the undergarment, the wrap for my upper arms, and made some slight alterations to bring the straps in tighter make it less revealing in the boob area, it was no longer a $99 dress.  But, it was beautiful.  And I felt beautiful in it too.

We will celebrate nine years of marriage on March 21^st.  I am so very lucky I have Kenyon in my life.  He is a fantastic husband and lifelong companion.  I wouldn’t want anybody else by my side.

*On a side note.  My Grandma D. passed away on Super Bowl Sunday just last year.  It is nice to have a happy memory there along with the sad memory.