My Village

They say it takes a village to raise a family, or something like that...  Mom was having lunch with some of her closest friends that couldn't make it to Jay's wedding and asked that I send some pictures to Walgreen's so that she could pick them up to share with her friends over lunch.  And then I found this picture...

I remember Autnie Em trying to get us all together for this picture during the reception, thinking she was crazy!  But I look at it, and this is my village.  These are the people that raised Jay and I.  And no matter how far apart our lives may take us- Mandeville, LA to Jackson, MS to Charlotte, NC to Birmingham, AL- they flock back to us for those oh so important events as if we were there own children.

Leenie rescued me when my mom threatened to flush me down a toilet when I was a baby because I would.not.stop.crying.  Her backyard backed up to ours and we always said we should have built a gate to make things easier.

And Auntie Em... She read in mom's wedding, I think mom read in hers, her daughter Jackie read in my wedding and I read in Jackie's wedding earlier this year.  Mom and Emmie have seen the sun rise in like 20 states and they never met a bottle of wine they didn't like.

We used to do Mardi Gras at Aunt Abby's house when they lived uptown, and we did it big!  Like kids in buckets on top of ladders- BIG!  And buckets of fried chicken with all the fixins'- BIG!  She and Uncle Kerry are my godparents and my mom and dad are their daughter Alicia's godparents.

So there they are... My Village.  And I good looking one if I do say so myself.  I love you all, and you will never know how much you mean to me and my family.