When the word spreads in a small Texas town, such as the one I live in that a couple would like to have a party to celebrate their love, everyone pitches in. Two years ago, my then-fiancee and I made such an announcement. We knew we were too old for a wedding, but we did want to have some sort of celebration to sort of "mark the moment" of our togetherness...our coupledom, if you will. Well, in the village, all of our dear friends pitched in and joined in the preparations. The largest contribution was by a dear couple friend who allowed us to have the party in their cottonwood grove. He's the fella leaning against the pole in this picture. Also, since we were going to have a band and dancing....well, he and his wife decided they would pour a cement dance floor. This involved lots of back-breaking work...as well as many hours of men drinking lots of adults beverages and making plans and watching cement dry. It was a bonding experience. It, along with the electrical project (well, we HAD to have lighting, didn't we?)...well, the pre-celebration lasted for days.....all with a great amount of well...levity, if you know what I mean.
Then family started coming in to help celebrate. Not being rookies to throwing shin-digs...it was fourth of July weekend. Pictured below is me (in black) one of my friends and my daughter. We are supervising the work. It had to be done.
While it was still the 4th of July, the guys decided to decorate the dance area. One way they did this was by wrapping the trees with lights and placing baskets of flowers from our hosts deck into the holes in the trees. It looked great!
The pic below is a little harder to explain. It was a little farther into the planning/decorating/pre-celebrating. Let me explain...There was a dead turkey up in one of the cottonwood trees. Someone noticed it and the women in the group just COULD NOT GET OVER the whole thing. Conversation led to turkeys, how Benjamin Franklin wanted turkeys to be the national bird instead of the eagle (we are nothing if not intellectual and historically accurate in the village). This inexplicably, or maybe naturally led to the females in the group standing then singing ...hands on their hearts...the star spangled banner...TO the dead turkey in the tree. Just for the record, I was not at this event. But many of the people that I love and hold dearest to me in the world WERE present. I'm quite sure that they will be thrilled that I am putting this out there.
The boys were taking a break. Two of the guys below are our sons. I'll let you figure out which ones because I really, truly claim parental rights to them all. They are a handsome group.
Now here are the men taking their break. The man on the left is now my hubs, who is always ready for a party. Beside him is my sister's husband. I think I have literally know him as long as I've know my sister and he is the nicest man on earth. What he is not, despite what you see here, is a cowboy. What he is...is an adventurer.
What you may have lost in the thread of this long, long tedious tale is that the party HASNT happened yet. This is all pre-party. Therefore, all of the pictures in today's post are during the week or some on the day before. Like this one of all the yo0ung men making a wind-block to light a firework of some kind. They are professionals at this sort of things apparently.
When that didn't work, they hid behind the porta-potties to block the wind. Always thinking, those guys.
I love the teamwork and fun of living in a small town. In my next post, I will show you pics of the actual party.
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