2009:
In January, we got a black Labrador puppy that was from a litter of Mom and Will's yellow and chocolate, respectively, Labradors. Doug's favorite baseball team is the Chicago Cubs, so the puppy was named Waveland Wrigley for a street outside of Wrigley field. She is quite the adorable thing, except at 3am when it is frigid out, she doesn't know to do her business immediately and then wants to play around when we go back inside. Doug and I also finalized a church to get married in. We wanted to get married in the beautiful stained glass sanctuary on east Manatee Avenue, but they were ridiculously expensive, so we settled on Kirkwood Presbyterian, with Leona's help. She passed away shortly after helping us reserve the church.
In February, Mom threw me a surprise bridal shower, which was so amazing and unexpected (I know, hence "surprise"). Doug and I received a lot of great housewares, we played games and everyone else ate great food. Also, the same week, that crazy Great Dane ate a towel. Her surgery coincided with the bridal shower. It was an interesting day to say the least.
In March, that horrid girl Mercedes convinced Will to join the Army, even though he had a full scholarship to UWF. We all tried to talk him out of it, but it didn't work. It's nice that he's following in Granddaddy's Army footsteps, but we are still fighting the war from the September 11th attacks. He also neglected to mention to the Army that his knee was torn. Because it was not surgically repaired, he had no visible scars.
In March, Doug and I moved out of our apartment in Mobile and into a house in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. You didn't miss much if you've never been there. Hattie and Waveland much appreciated having a yard to run around in. We also discovered that we had a resident tortoise that lived in our backyard. We named him "Henry". Remember when you named every squirrel you saw "Toby"?
In May, Doug and I finally found a venue to hold our reception, Lakewood Ranch Country Club. However, since 10/10 wasn't available, we changed the date to 9/12. I thought it would be great to make my wedding anniversary on your birthday. It now gives us something happy to think about on that date. Also, Will completed high school.
In June, Mom, Dad and Will moved to Gautier, Mississippi- another "if you blink, you miss it" town on the gulf coast. Doug and I threw Will a very small graduation party (cake, streamers, balloons) to celebrate his graduation from high school.
On the 4th of July, Will left to go back to Florida so that he could catch the bus to Basic Training at Ft. Benning in Columbus, GA, where Granddaddy also trained. It broke Mom's heart that she wouldn't be able to see him or talk to him for about 2 months. I was upset that he wouldn't be able to attend my wedding.
In August, I got my scuba diving certification so that Doug and I could scuba dive on our honeymoon. I had a bad experience during my certification, so although I hold a certification, I don't use it
In September, Doug and I got married. I woke up that morning to a rainstorm of hurricane proportions. I have decided it was your tears falling from heaven, since you were sad you couldn't be at my wedding. Uncle Duck walked Mom down the aisle. C read a bible verse during the ceremony. It was a beautiful ceremony and reception, but you were truly missed. I wasn't at all nervous that day, but I was extremely sad you weren't there. You probably wouldn't have liked our wedding cake design- it was FAR from traditional. Will sent a speech he had written for UJ to read at the reception. Only one problem, UJ ended up so sick, he couldn't attend the wedding or reception. He ended up calling an ambulance to the hotel during the reception and then UD took AD, in tears, to the hospital to see him. I've decided we can't gather family together without a hospital being involved. When we left our reception, Doug and I went to Sarasota Memorial in our wedding finery to say hey to UJ. We spent our wedding night at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota. Our room overlooked the park where Doug proposed. I don't know why UJ insists on staying at those, they're not worth the money, but it was nice to have a fancy room for our wedding night. Doug planned our honeymoon without my input, so I had no idea where we were going until we reached our connecting flight out of Miami. We ended up going to St. John, a beautiful island in the Virgin Islands. Doug had rented us a house up in the middle of a mountain. It was very relaxing and peaceful and we enjoyed it fully. Maybe too much...
In October, Doug and I drove up to Jackson (about a 3 hour drive) to see L play softball. She is a good all-around player and she's a great pitcher too. I know you and Granddaddy would be so proud of her skills. I also got my name legally changed on everything and in my Mississippi license, I am well-tanned and definitely look like a newlywed. Or maybe I just had a "glow". We went to visit Will for "Family Day" in late October. I wasn't feeling all that great, but really didn't think anything of it. However, I felt progressively worse as the weekend went on. Doug and I began to suspect perhaps we had brought home a more "lasting" souvenir from St. John. On October 29th, we found out that we were expecting your first great-grandchild. To say that we were scared and not ready for a baby this early in marriage would be a gross understatement.
By November, we came around to the idea that we were going to be parents. We began to get very excited about this little person. On November 8th, we had our first prenatal appointment. We found out that our little one was going to be a patriotic child, with a due date of July 4th. On November 12th, Will graduated from Basic Training. That morning, we went to breakfast with UJ and AD before the ceremony. Apparently, this is the day morning sickness kicked in big time. All I could muster to eat was one piece of bread. AT told me later that AD called her on the way back home to tell her she thought I was pregnant. Mom swears she knew before that day, but when I was so green around the gills, it was confirmed. However, we were waiting for Doug's parents to visit, perhaps for Thanksgiving, so we didn't say anything to anyone while we were in Georgia. Doug's parents couldn't visit, so on November 19th, we finally spoke up, that we were, in fact, making all four of them grandparents for the first time. On November 23rd, against the better judgement of EVERYONE, Will married Mercedes at the courthouse in Mobile. So, both of Mom's children were married in a matter of 2 1/2 months. A year previously, she had both of us at home and now we had both spread our wings and I was expecting a baby. Will was stationed at Ft. Knox in Kentucky. It's not all that impressive. Also, UJ let us know that due to a merger with his company and a much larger company, he had lost his job after many years of service.
On December 4th, Doug and I saw our jellybean for the first time. When we took Mom the ultrasound pictures, she was just glowing with excitement. I'm sure she wanted to pick up the phone and call you to tell you all about this new addition. We had another ultrasound on December 22nd and again Mom beamed with pride over her new grandchild. She, of course, overbought for this unborn miracle, as I'm sure you would have, had you been with us.
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