A letter from Apr 30, 2025

Dear Willow, Don't cry, not yet! The day is FINALLY here! Today is April 30th, 2025. I am sitting at my work desk , typing away to you while ignoring the growing pile of emails sitting on my next monitor. I've bene thinking about you a lot lately. What you'll look like today, who you'll have around you.. how in the hell you managed to get through all of the planning and stress to get to where you are. I know that it must have been a lot, I mean do we ever make it simple to plan an event? Every plate, every flower, every inch of tulle needs to be in the right place. The candles lit, the places set, the music tuned perfectly. BUT now you are here. Take a moment. Breathe it in. (I know that's a lot to ask with your hands shaking and your chest feeling tingly). This is what you've worked so hard for. No, not the dinner or the pomp and circumstance but THIS. The deep chest feeling that you are marrying your person. The same woman who picks out the perfect spoon for your ice cream. Who always makes sure you get pictures when Roman stretches funny. Who sees your messy days and checks off everything she can on the to do list that's clouding your head, even if that's just listening to you yap until everything seems a little more planned. I don't know what's coming in the next year for the two of us, but I know that if we stand by her we can make it through anything. Never have I had someone take me in as I am, heavy head and all like she does. She has this way of making you feel like everything is going to be okay, even if she isn't sure. She's a shoulder to lean on when everything feels like it's coming apart, a ray of sunshine in the grayest of days. She is the steady hand to my self. She makes me feel like it's okay to be myself. The protective, emotional, passionate, scatterbrained person that I am is.. okay. I am so excited to meet you. I just know you are shining like the sun. Just remember, take it in. Let it soak into your skin and settle there. Today is going to pass SO fast, make sure you lift your head up and look around once in a while. Today is not about your mom, your siblings, your future in laws, your guests, it's about you and Bee. Now, time to get up, and get ready! (or maybe you already are, regardless!) This day is going to paint the walls inside of your head for the rest of your life, now go out there and live it. I can't wait to hear all about it.