Farmhouse & French

What a great week. Mom and I went to Georgia on Tuesday morning with the baby to stay at the

1917 farmhouse with my aunts. We ate yummy food, watched movies, took long walks through the woods and spent an afternoon in Plains looking at all of the Jimmy Carter sites (homes, school, museum), antiquing (I bought a vintage sailboat for H's nursery) and eating homemade peanut butter ice cream. It was so fun! Hampton was a model traveler and aside from his non-fondness of the museum ... all was well :)

Because Monday was such a crazy day (trying to get ready for our trip and Paul working late), we celebrated anniversary #7 last night. We went to a little French restaurant on the Square (La Cuisine) and split the lamb and a chocolate crepe. The restaurant opened several years ago (the owners having just moved over from France to start it) and reminds me a lot of Paulette's in Memphis ... so authentic and delicious. We talked a lot about how life has changed in seven years ... and how the last year has held the most change, yet been the most fun. Life feels full, our marriage has been blessed and we have so much to celebrate ...

Seven Years

Seven years ago, today, Paul and I were married. This morning, I strolled Hampton over to my mom and dad's and walked him down the "wedding walk" ... through the rose garden, around the pool and under the oak tree into the green space of the backyard where our reception was held. I told him about how we danced the night away with family and friends, toasted to love, ate cake, and left to the bang of beautiful fireworks.

For our anniversary this year, I ordered this. I want these words to be a reminder in our home, to us, and to our children, of the commitment we made. Not just on May 13, 2006 ... but every day of every year that followed.

A Decade Later ...

Ten years ago today, Paul and I went on our very first date.
We have now spent an entire

decade of our lives ... together.
Sometimes I feel as if my life really began when I met him ...

I don't remember as much before him,
and I think it's because of how much (more) fun life

became once he was in it, the memories are all full color.
All of these years later, happiness

knows no bounds. This photograph of the three of us?
Love personified.
There is no way to know

what's to come in life, there is no way to see our future,
but as I look back to that day

ten years ago, I'm so thankful that this ...was mine.



And Then There Were Six

...years, that is. And all I know for sure is that love just

grows and grows and grows, and marriage gets better

and better and better ... with each passing day.

~

Love is ... a many splendored thing.

A Sunrise Delivery, & Love

This morning ... I woke up all alone in a hotel room a thousand miles away from home ... and Paul. It was a teensy bit sad as today was the big five year anniversary, but just as I was talking myself out of the pit, housekeeping was banging down my door. It was 7 a.m. and I was on the verge of yelping, who cleans rooms at the crack of dawn?? But soon enough, I learned she wasn't there to clean ... she was there to deliver a fedex package that had been overnighted from Memphis. And inside? An anniversary card :)

I was picked up airport curbside around 7ish and we dined in Cooper-Young at Beauty Shop ... I had the honey glazed lamb and blue cheese and scallion fingerling potatoes. It was all you could hope for it to be, and then some.

Sometimes, when you least expect it ... life really gives you a moment. Not always a fairytale, not always perfection, but blissful nonetheless. It's when you can look across the table and clink your glasses together and say, I really love you more than words, that makes the moment ... and it's all the bells, whistles and happily ever after you need.

1, 2, 3, Four!

Love, I believe, is what you've been through

with someone ...

{the above photo was taken in the summer of 2003 right

after we started dating ... if being head over heels in

love has "a look" ... here it is}

... and what I learned about love so many years ago ...

the truest and purest definition of it that I know ...

... I hold onto ... we hold onto ...

Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,

always perseveres. {1 Corinthians 13}

~

Happy 4th Anniversary, I love you so much.

Three

Several weeks ago, I memorized Joshua 1:5 – No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you … never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you.
Tomorrow is our three year wedding anniversary … and of all that I am thankful for at this time in my life, I am, perhaps, most grateful for the promise found in the above verse, not just in a singular sense, but most especially, in a marriage sense.

Never will I leave you …

It’s the “I” in the “chord of three strands that is not easily broken” that makes Himself known in that verse. And He has kept His promise. He hasn’t left us. The good days have been some of the best days of my life, and the bad days have been some of the worst, but the “I” in that verse of scripture has remained ever present. And on down the road, when I am old and gray and understand much more about life and love than I do at twenty-six … my prayer is that I will look back and know that among other things, Joshua 1:5 shaped not only my life, but our life together. That the legacy of our marriage will be a rich tapestry that only God Himself could have woven together, and that the above verse will feel tangibly familiar and personal, to both of us …

… so I will be with you, Heather & Paul … never will I leave you, nor will I forsake you …

And I know, too, that somewhere off in the distance, that of which we strive for on a daily basis, that legacy of woven tapestry all tightly knit together … I know it will be the most incredible piece of work these earthly eyes will ever see, and that the three of us, that strand of three chords not easily broken, will gaze upon its intricacies, colors and depth, and think, how beautiful.

Remembering Our Wedding Day

These were the beautiful flowers delivered to my desk today

for our upcoming anniversary...

The Best Day Of Our Entire Lives

From my journal last night ...

I have two solid hours to gather and sort thoughts as I am now on a flight back to Nashville with a small layover in Miami. Paul is happily tuned into a movie, and I am happy with pen and ink. We just made a bend and the left wing of the plane dipped just a bit so that I could see the last of clear blue waters and islands fade from view. We sat in the airport for hours today, as our ferry was early and flight - late. I grazed through Elle Decor and Martha Stewart Living and read with earnest how to make a Genoise layer cake and fold a perfect fitted sheet. As my linen closet in Memphis is beginning to take shape - this helpful hint was much appreciated.

Is it not hard to believe that I have been a Bruce for a week?? If words and feelings and emotions could only even begin to express the beauty of that day. Alas, I will try to give a bird's eye view ...

The hair and make-up stylists arrived on time and I was whisked away to be placed on a pedestal in the very bathroom that I had once needed one to reach the sink and brush my teeth. Everyone said I was as calm as a cucumber. I don't know about that. The bridesmaids began to arrive around noon for a light lunch that Saturday and I downed an entire turkey and lettuce wrap. They say that you practically have to force a bride to eat on her wedding day. Not this one. Maybe I was scared veilless that I was going to pass out at the altar without food or drink (which could have been an entirely likely possibility given my past) - I don't know - I do know that I had a lot to eat and drink that day ... :)

Never one to not stop and smell the roses, after hair and make-up, I waltzed around the tent and gardens to see everything. Mary drove me to the church, and we listened to the FG (Fabulous Girl) mix on the way - I had sent it to her during our early semesters in college, and it's still the fave. The rest of the bridesmaids left a bit before us, and Mom was after. Dad missed the rides all together and subsequently was dropped off on the curb of the church by our wedding angel, Tracy.

We dressed at the church - in the bride's room. My only jewelry was my heirloom diamond ring and pearls that had belonged to my Nanny's sister, Kathryn. My something blue was a cross that was crocheted by my Nanny's grandmother and was fastened to the base of my bouquet. My something old was the ring, new - the dress, and borrowed was the garter my mom wore in her own wedding in the spring of 1979. My bouquet held white peonies grown by Aunt P and Uncle B, and I love that I carried some of our Tennessee in the mix of freesia and lilacs and others that day.

During pictures, my mom and dad couldn't even look at me without tearing up -- it was a sweet time. My bridesmaids gathered around me to sing Going to the Chapel, and it was one of my favorite memories of that day. As it neared time to get in the line up for the processional, I could hear our friends singing in the sanctuary. I loved that. We had two readings done before the processional, Psalm 100 and 1 Corinthians 13. How Great thou Art was played before the seating of the mothers in honor of Paul's mother. He told me later that he listened with his ear to the door as that song was played. Precious.

The bridal party entered to Canon in D and Dad and I stood in the eves wiping away tears. Both Mark and Michael came over to kiss me on the cheek. Four little bell page and attendants rang tiny silver bells that my mom had engraved with "Celebrate Family, Friends and Tradition" down the aisle, and then I heard the strains of the bagpipe ...

I walked down the aisle to Highland Cathedral in honor of the Hagood's Scottish heritage. Dad and I appeared in the doorway of the church - me with a smile, and Paul at the other end with tears. He looked so handsome standing there that I fell in love all over again in spite of myself.

Our wedding ceremony will forever be held within the chambers of my heart. The words spoken and smiles exchanged. Bethany sang Shine on Us as we took communion, and before we knew it we were bebopping our way out of the church to Your love is liftin me higher. We exited the church to a sea of rose petals and jumped into the convertible with "Just Married" sign attached to the back, and my veil blowing in the wind.

We were announced into the tent an hour later, and danced to Marc Cohn's True Companion. Dad and I danced to The Long and Winding Road by the Beatles. It was fitting - when I was growing up, he would sing the Beatles while dropping me off at school in the mornings. After that and the dinner hour passed and toasts had been made and cake had been cut and champagne had been poured ... we didn't leave the dance floor. The time of our life.

To see so many of the faces who have loved, nurtured and blessed you in life ... among those that were there ... one of my sixth grade teachers ... our college mentors ... my third grade Sunday School teacher - and the family and friends gathered all in one place - it was overwhelming. More than anything, that day pointed me toward Christ. Just to see the glimpse of the blessings He has so poured out onto our lives.

We left to a huge display of fireworks, and as we drove down that driveway into the muggyish Florida night, I whispered "thank you" into the sky. It was a thank you to God and to my parents, to our friends and family and to Paul. It was a thanks full of gratitude and song and laughter. It was a thanks of love.

Sometimes ... along the journey ... we will find (even for the writer's among us) that there really are no words to speak in a verbal manner ...

For this deep soul joy -- this joy -- is written across the heart.

Our Wedding Day

The last 36 hours are fairly difficult to put into words. They have been so emotional and so blessed and so good --- all at once. I woke up this morning and my stomach was in knots ... I think I have developed a bit of the bride anxiety I have so often heard about. I have taken two extra strength tums, had 1 full glass of water, and now my mother has made me a small portion of oatmeal (which is good for my heart ... as told on the Quaker box) to eat. I have been taking small bites.

Thursday night was the Fabulous Girls Spa Party at the Aveda "Face the Day" Spa. Family and bridesmaids had a choice of manicure or pedicure and Latinos catered some most delicious food. We had pink champagne, and I wore my sparkly tiara "Bride to Be." It was such a nice start to the weekend ... just to relax and be with friends. All of the attending guests received little pearl monograms. So cute! Liza, my soon-to-be six year old cousin even received her first pedicure. She wanted to pick out her color, and after her mommy dismissed the blue she had picked ... she settled on a light pink and proclaimed to my mom, "I have a lot going on this weekend, Aunt Becky -- I have my dance recital, a wedding and I'm turning six years old."

Six years old??? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was there? Just yesterday that I was only dreaming that this day would happen??? Blink. And it happened. Just like that...

I will forever remember the feelings that I am feeling today. The excitement, the newness, the awe of seeing something so beautiful. My prayers have been answered and my dreams have come true.

The bridesmaid luncheon was held yesterday at 11 a.m. at the home of my grandmother, and given by my mother's dear friend, Kathy, and my dad's four sisters. Pictures will never even do justice. We had a decades worth of wedding gowns floating down my grandmother's staircase. All of the women in my family had theirs on manequins with their wedding portraits and veils and hats and albums. This was all a surprise to me -- the tables were gorgeous with lots of whites and antique linens. Upon arriving, all the guests were escorted to the pool where we sipped mimosas under the gazebo. When lunch was served we had a strawberry salad and chicken salad with avocado and tomato. Hagood family favorite desserts were served afterward ~ my Aunt Jarl's famous sugar cookies and my favorite carrot cake made by Mrs. Nation, Pop-pop's favorite orange pound cake and Mark and Michael's favorite swiss chocolate cake. So delicious.

After we ate we were escorted into the living room for toasts and I showed a dvd that I had made of all of my bridesmaids and family members gathered. When it was time to leave I could hardly believe it -- it's like in this moment with all of those you hold so dear, so close - you want to capture it in a bottle and soak up just one more minute. I gave my mother a heart shaped limoge box from France - we collect them. The box was actually mine, but upon reading an article a few weeks ago - that if you can give your most cherished possession to someone you love, that is the best gift you can ever give ... I gave mine to my mom. My parents are the dream makers - they have made this time so special, so full of life and love ... so full of beauty.

We came back to my house where I watched as the tables inside the tent were dressed with china and silver and glassware. It's going to be gorgeous - I cannot wait to post photographs. The rehearsal was a bit nerve wracking for the bride, as I have planned so many weddings and directed them in the past -- and wanted everything to flow and be just right. Mary made me the fluffiest ribbon bouquet and I felt like a queen walking down that aisle on the arm of my dad.

The rehearsal dinner was a low-country boil at an outside clubhouse overlooking a pond. The weather was picturesque - and we ate crab and craw daddies, corn, new potatoes, sausage ... wonderful salad and crusty bread. The drink of choice was sweet tea, and dessert was key lime pie. It was sooooo good.

After dinner we made our way into the clubhouse where we sat in a large room and listened to hilarious stories about our dating life from friends and sweet messages from family members. Paul whispered to me that it surpassed all of his expectations for that night ... just the feeling of so much love that we both felt. It was awesome!

Paul and I exchanged wedding gifts afterward and I gave him a silver compass with his monogram from Scotland - symbolic that a compass is a guide, and now he is the guide of the family unit we are now forming ... as a Spiritual leader and husband. He gave me diamond earrings. I slept in them (!!) Mary and I dropped Paul off at the Hilton close to midnight, and then came back to my house and sat under the tent to talk to friends, my mom and Aunt P.

What beautiful memories .... there are so many untold stories that have taken place, but now is not the time to tell them ... I have other things going on today - like watching dreams unfold before my eyes.

After the after-wedding-brunch tomorrow, Paul and I will open wedding gifts and then head to Orlando. We fly out early Monday for a week in the U.S. Virgin Islands - St. John .... basically -paradise. We are staying at the Caneel Bay resort, and I am so excited :)

I can't wait to see him standing at the end of that aisle ........ cannot WAIT. He is everything I could have ever imagined, and so much more.

This is it --- I'm signing off as Heather Lane Hagood ... when I return, I will be officially Mrs. Heather Lane Bruce. For such a day as this - I will rejoice and be glad in it.

...for this is the day ~