Chapter 13

"Get up sleepy head," Sarah Jean said to me as she gently shook me, "Today's your big day and we have lots to do."

I rolled over, rubbed my eyes and looked at my mother. Then suddenly I sit up, "Dang, what time is it? How long 'til everybody gets here?"

Sarah Jean replied, "You have plenty of time; it's just now 8:00. I knew that the celebration would go late into the evening so I decided to let you sleep in. We will get you up now and in your bath water about 2 hours before the wedding, so you can just put on a field dress for now. I made sure that Bobby knows not to be here until 4:00. That way you won't see each other until the wedding. The guests will be here around 3:30 so he will only have to fidget around for 30 minutes before the wedding. Your sisters are so excited to be a part of the wedding, I can't get them to do anything. Your grandmother is even flitting around like a little girl. I don't know what it is about a wedding that gets up women all in a tither."

I reached up to hug mother, squeezing her tight she said, "I am going to miss you most of all. I know I won't be far, but I'll still miss ya."

Mother squeezed me back, "My baby is growing up on me."

About that time my two sisters run into the room and jumped on the bed, they hugged each other up and aggravated me by saying, "O Bobby I jest luv you kissy, kissy, kissy," and the other one saying "Oh Maisy I jest luv you too, kissy, kissy, kissy." I stood up on the bed and whacked them both with the pillow and we all fell down laughing.

Sarah Jean said, "OK! everybody in the kitchen, we are having pancakes, Maisy is the guest of honor and gets to be in charge," and with that we all scrambled into the kitchen laughing and joking with each other.

After the dishes were washed and put away, granny asked me to go with her to the herb garden to help pick some for the tables and her bouquet. As they walked through the garden granny pointed out the different ones she wanted cut and I would kneel down to snip them.

Granny said, "For the big table, in the middle 'bout every third person we want to put a small bunch of peppermint, lavender, lemon verbena cut short and a tall cutting of Lily of the Valley in the center." "I figure we got about 30 folks a comin' and we will sit the adults at the big table, set a small table for the younguns, cause they will be runnin' around and the older kids a separate table for them. I done wove together some herb wreaths to hang in the barn for the dance and now we just need to work on your bouquet." "We'll out these cut herbs in the spring house to keep cool until after the ceremony and then me and the women folks will set 'em out." "Me and your momma will come out and cut the flowers and herbs you pick for your bouquet right before you get dressed and that way they will be fresh when you prance down the aisle. Now point out which ones you want and let's see if you learned anything from me."

I stood up and thought for a minute looking around, "Well I know I want some roses for beauty, luck and love, some Jasmine and Columbine for love, money and courage, and I want to tuck in some Passion Flower for peace. What do you think?" I asked granny.

"I think that will be just fine," granny replied. "Now, I hear somebody out front, why don't you go see who it is and I will just ease down to the springhouse with these herbs right quick afore they wilt."

After I had greeted my aunts and directed them to the kitchen, my uncles to the barn and the children outside to play with my sisters, I all of a sudden had nothing to do. I took a quick look in the kitchen and saw momma and granny visiting with the womenfolk. Since she had been put in charge of setting up the tables and making sure the barn was in tip top shape I thought I would wander out to see how things were going. I could see that all of the men folks were standing around the big old white oak out from the barn. Some were whittling, some were smoking and a few were just pulling on their suspenders. I could see who was telling the biggest tale by the way they would pull on their suspenders. Whoever was doing the talking would first run their thumbs under their suspenders, up and down then as the story got bigger they would start stretching on them, a little further out each time the tale got bigger. I just smiled to myself and walked in to the barn.

I could see that the cows and horses had been taken out into the fields. Each stall was swept and scrubbed and the harnesses hung up high so they wouldn't be in the way. Daddy had strewn out fresh hay on the floor after it had been raked and there were a few bales set up for folks to rest on in between the square dancing. I noticed daddy had nailed together some boards for a platform for her kin to stand on when they played their instruments. I stood looking at the banjos, fiddles, dulcimers and a few harmonicas resting up for their night's work. All of a sudden I felt a warm breath on the back of my neck and jumped. As I turned around somebody grabbed me by the waist and pressed their lips to mine before I could scream.