Mother of the Flower Girl

I am sitting in my seat next to the grooms parents at the front, straining to see if I could catch a glimpse of Elizabeth through the other seated wedding guests. There is too much in the way so I change positions in my seat and look again. Nope. Then I hear a guest behind me laughingly ask, "I wonder who is more nervous?  The bride, or the mother of the flower girl?"  I knew the answer to that one, "The mother of the flower girl."

In the middle of August I was getting ready to leave the bridal shower and the bride takes me aside to ask me if Elizabeth would be a flower girl for her wedding.  The bride is Miriam, who is the fiancé of Dan, who is the cousin of Brian (who is Elizabeth's Daddy, of course).  Elizabeth has never met Miriam and only met Dan once as a baby. But this Dan is the one who upon hearing of Elizabeth's diagnosis last fall, sent Elizabeth a Kindle Fire to help during all the doctor, hospital, and what-not that was to come in the time ahead as she fought the leukemia.

I got so excited by the question of Elizabeth being apart of the wedding party, but didn't want to say yes without talking to Brian and asking Elizabeth.  Since it was going to be Elizabeth's birthday the next day, I thought that would be a perfect day to ask her.  So I checked with Brian the night before, and waited anxiously to ask Elizabeth during her Birthday breakfast the next morning.

Morning came with it's lovely pink birthday celebrations for Elizabeth. I worked to get her birthday breakfast all pink and perfect, and then we settled down to eat.  As we ate I asked Elizabeth if she would like to be a flower girl in the wedding for Miriam and Dan (mentioning to her that Dan was the one that gave her the Kindle Fire).  I then also described what a flower girl did.  She surprised me with her answer.

After my description of what she would do as a flower girl, she quickly responded that I could be the flower girl, and she would be the photographer to take pictures.  After a bit more talking with her she decided to be the flower girl, and I could take pictures of her in her flower girl dress.  That sounded perfect to me.

During the next month talk of the wedding and flower girl stuff was plentiful.  Elizabeth loved going dress shopping, quickly choosing her accessories, and then finding a dress to go with them.  She was especially excited about her 'high heels.'  She was constantly asking, "Is today the wedding?"  "Is [Grandma, Bapa, etc.] going to the wedding?"  She loved talking about her 'cinderella dress,' 'high heels,' head wreath, and purse.  She was looking for rose petals and cutting up paper to throw on the ground as she walked to practice for the wedding.  And then the day before the wedding she woke up with this question, "Is today the wedding?" And was so disappointed that it wasn't, but it was the day of the rehearsal.

At the rehearsal that afternoon Elizabeth was shy, and I was getting nervous.  She did not want to rehearse, and instead clung to Daddy's neck for comfort.  I really wanted this to work for her since she spent all month talking about it in great anticipation, but there wasn't nearly as many people at the rehearsal as there would be at the wedding.  Luckily, she did have the opportunity later that night to warm up to the wedding party.

After the rehearsal, the wedding party headed to a restaurant.  While here Elizabeth was able to fill her belly, and then make friends.  The best thing that loosened her up was when she joined into the little game that was going around the tables.  Throughout the night the wedding party were throwing sugar packets at each other.  Elizabeth caught on quickly, and had a great time making friends with those she threw sugar packets at.  I think we are doomed for now on if we take her to a restaurant that has any sugar packets on the tables.  If you get pelted by a stray sugar packet at a restaurant someday, you may find us at a table nearby.

The next thing I know, it is the day of the wedding.  We had a relaxing morning, I made sure Elizabeth takes a nap, and then it's time to get her dressed.  She is so excited that as soon as she can she rushes down to find Daddy to show off her dress.  Then it is time to get in place.

I quickly run upstairs to grab one last accessory for Elizabeth.  This was a special pearl necklace that Brian gave to me on our wedding day.  As I put it around Elizabeth's neck I tell her how special it is, and then add that it would help her to be brave while she was the flower girl.  I then had to leave her with Brian and rush off to find my seat.

When it was Elizabeth's turn to come down the aisle she did beautifully.  I felt a little teary as I watched her walk purposefully down the aisle and followed my instructions.  She took her duty as the flower girl seriously as she gently grabbed petals and watched them fall to the ground.  Towards the end she turned back to find out were the bride was.  She knew that she was throwing the petals for the bride to walk on.

It was so sweet to see my little girl once again tackle something new and intimidating. I had nothing to be nervous about.  Not only did Elizabeth do her duties as a flower girl, she did it better and more beautifully than I could have every imagined.  She once again showed me her bravery, persistence, and love of the experiences life has to offer.