Here Comes the Bride

There are certain things in the life of a toddler that never are forgotten. For example, after we had Christmas ten months ago, she proceeded to talk about and dream about Santa until...now. When the Fair came to Marshall in June, it stuck in her little memory permanently, and at night she still prays for the "fair that went bye-bye."

You know how it is. There are things that, once they are experienced, are embedded in their little brains forever, and are still coming up in conversation several months later.

Which is why I know we are just at the beginning of her being a bride. Well, she did get to go to a wedding last October, and whenever we pass the church where the wedding was, she says, "There's Lindsay's wedding!" But with Jason and Adrienne's wedding just a couple of weeks ago, it is once again all fresh in her head.

This morning she has been wearing her skirt from India with all the sparkly little silver discs on it. She is carrying around an Easter tree as her bouquet of flowers. And her head has a piece of cotton filler from her baby bed on it as her veil. And the conversation goes like this:
Abigail: Mommy, let's get married. I'm the bride.

Me: Okay. Do you Abigail take me Mommy for all of your life? (whispering, Say, I do.)

Abigail: I do.

Me: Now say, Do you, Mommy, take me, Abigail, for all of your life?

Abigail: Do you, Mommy, take me, Abigail, for all of your life?

Me: I sure do. Now give me a kiss.

Abigail: Now we gotta dance. (Because to her, this is really all weddings are about anyway)

So we dance. She dips. We hum Pachelbel's Canon. What is more wedding than that?

Abigail: Now we gotta say our wedding verses.

Me: What are our wedding verses?

Abigail: (with some mumbling mixed in as she makes it up) I pledge allegiance....to....and the kitty....and ride the horsey....forever and ever....Amen. Now let's dance. You can hold the flowers and wear the hat. But I'm still the bride.

Man, and I thought my wedding was good. Hers is much better.