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me Mom.” Then she went into a fit of giggles.

I laughed because she was laughing, and even though Blake didn’t know what was happening, she fucking laughed too.

We called my dad, and called Foster and told him on speakerphone while Micah and Cory listened. Everyone was just as excited as we were. When people you love react like that it’s hard to imagine you’re not doing the most right thing on the planet.

The only one who cried at the news was my baby sister, Morgan.

“I’m sorry, it’s just so … so … well, it took long enough,” she’d said through audible tears.

News like that doesn’t dull the more you talk about it. Not for us anyway. With every call, Blake bounced up and down. Every time someone squealed or shouted at the surprise, we joined them in earnest.

We sat on the patio that night after Blake made some pizza thing that tasted like it was delivered straight from Italy, and we drank a really nice bottle of wine my mom had in the small wine stash in her basement.

“To your mom,” Blake toasted.

“To my mom,” I agreed, lifting my glass and clinking it against hers.

Our families were really becoming one.

Friday, August 6, 2010

WE WERE BLESSED TO have so much help from our families, but I insisted I wanted to do it all. It was like I’d never planned a wedding. There were so many things I either ignored or didn’t give two shits about the first time around.

Cake flavors. Bridesmaids and their dresses. Gifts for others. Places for the wedding and reception. The food. The music. The pre-wedding celebrations. There was a lot to manage. And I was enjoying every second.

Even though there was so much to think about, it was going smoothly and really fast. We’d be wed by the end of the summer and it couldn’t get there fast enough.

“Which of these do you like?” I asked Micah at the dress store. My parents had flown down to San Francisco for the weekend and Mom and Micah were helping me shop. Something, by nature, I hated to do. But as the picture of our wedding grew more vivid with every decision, every detail, the more I got into it.

“I like the shorter one. So you guys decided on that place in Oregon?” she asked as she browsed through the rack of plastic-covered dresses.

“We did. Casey stopped in there last week on his way back from Washington and he loved it so much he paid the deposit on the spot, so our date would be saved,” I said, laughing at the memory.

Blake, this place is fucking cool. You’re going to love it. And I think I’ve got them talked into buying my beer. Well, the fucker is buying it wholesale and reselling it back to me, but what-the-fuck-ever. It’s awesome. The pictures online are nothing compared to it in reality. This is the place.

That was all I needed to hear. In fact, it was shocking how much Casey wanted a say in all things of the Warren-Moore wedding.

“You guys are still cool with going there that week, right?”

Micah was my maid of honor. Again. She was the one wedding detail I was repeating. I loved her and she never once brought it up.

“Hell yeah, and we looked at stuff to do near the resort. There are a bunch of activities we’re going to take Foster to. It’s going to be great. That place really is cool. Oh. My. God. We’re going to be sisters!” she screamed when it hit her again for the hundredth time.

She was right. It was going to be great.

A creek ran straight through the property, allowing for hiking and biking. Casey loved it for the view. On the side opposite the creek, the Pacific Ocean in all its glory could be seen. Online we saw they had party tents to use and everything was so laid-back and beautiful. It felt surreal.

“Just six weeks, Blake. We have a lot to do,” my mom reminded me as she rounded the corner holding a dress. “Do you want to try this on?”

“Mom, it’s white.”

“So what? It’s beautiful.”

That it was, but I knew that wasn’t what I was looking for.

“I want the color creamier, less wedding gownish.”

I expected her to protest, but she didn’t.

“Less wedding gownish. Okay. Like flowy? Silky?”

“Yeah,” Micah chimed in. “Something like this.” The hangers screeched as she shoved the other dresses to the side and I saw it. It was much closer to what I