Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real: Late May Interlude Edition

Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~ Every Thursday at Like Mother Like Daughter

Yay! Prom is over! No more crazy running around, collapsing into bed, exhausted and sore, each night, cheating my family out of real meals--no, wait, that IS still happening!

I went from one crazily busy event directly into another. Memorial Day is Monday and my college roommate (and one of my dearest friends) and her five lovely daughters are coming for an overnight! And I suddenly understood what Auntie Leila meant long ago when she said that the need for deep cleaning will make itself known to you! At the time I thought, "Well, THAT'S not helpful," but now I get it!

Friends are coming to live with us for 24 hours! They're going to see into corners and under beds! It's time to Deep Clean!

And then, somehow, I thought it would be "fun" to invite a few more people over so my dearest friends can all meet each other. I do love "matchmaking" with my friends, colliding my different friend worlds. But I don't love trying to prepare my house for hosting 21 people. Yikes. And I am no hostess, bear that in mind.

Anyway, so things are nuts here. But you could eat off of the baseboards in the living room so that's something.

But, PROM! Redheaded Snippet looked like a dream, if I say so myself:

Pretty

We were tearing around like headless chickens right up until the deadline (when we had to meet at the boyfriend's house) and didn't get very many close-up shots.  And half of the ones we got were fuzzy.  But we were on time and our girl looked sensational!

The school hosted what they call a Promenade which is, basically, where everyone going to the prom shows up at the school first, lines up, has their name announced and prances down a makeshift runway so everyone assembled can check out their duds and their date.  I would have totally skipped that if they did it in my day. But it's the thing to do now so off we went.

Happy

Redheaded Snippet caused a small stir, a la Cinderella, because it was her boyfriend's prom at his school and so no one knew who she was.  We actually heard a few people whispering, "Who is she?  Whose daughter is that?  She looks so beautiful!"

At the risk of saturating this post with prom pics, I added this one because it's my favorite.  She looks so grown up and poised.  And he looks like the cat that ate the canary.  He wore that look the entire time (well, except for the moment she walked through the door when he looked like his heart had dropped into his shoes).

Happy and Funny

I just had to include this one.  We were invited down to the shore the day after the prom by Snippet's boyfriend's family.  We spent a gorgeous day relaxing on the beach and capped it off by watching the sunset on the bay.  While there, the boyfriend found a dead horseshoe crab and presented it to Redheaded Snippet as a token of his affection because of how she's so pretty.  This shot was taken during his presentation speech.    He then proceeded to chase her all over the beach with it while she shrieked her head off.  I just had to include it because they both look so darn happy.

Funny

Calvin, bored and finding ways to amuse himself at Applebee's while Redheaded Snippet gives Gram a play-by-play of how AMAZING Prom was!  Maybe this is the kind of thing that is only funny to me, his mother.  Oh well, 'tis MY BLOG!

And now for a harsh dose of reality:

Brace yourselves:

Real (twenty years ago, that is...)

Yup, that's me in the dress at Homecoming with The Viking, twenty years ago!  You should have seen The Viking shudder when Redheaded Snippet first came down the stairs with that dress on!  In this photo I'm only four years older than she is right now and this was just a few months before we were engaged.  Poor man, poor, poor man...

Now, wait for it...here's reality...

AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHH!  No, really, I kid.  The Viking and I are at that age where we keep reminding each other that we used to dream of growing old together and now we're living our dream.  And, especially in this day and age, eighteen years of marriage to the same man, the boy who rocked your world and became the love of your life, is something to be more than contented about!

Where have you found contentment (or more) this week?  Tell us all about it!  You'll be glad you did!