Flower Girl

Mom, Dad and me

My girls have been asking me lately when they will ever get to be flower girls in a wedding.  It has somehow become their lifelong goal to walk down an aisle leaving flower petals in their wake.  Really, I think it has something to do with getting to wear a fancy dress.  I understand their dream to be flower girls, though, because once I was a little girl longing to be a flower girl too.  Eventually I got my chance at my Uncle John and Aunt Mary's wedding in 1985.  I was eight.  The wedding was in December and the colors matched the festive Christmas decorations in the church.  My grandmother made my dress which was made out of red taffeta, complete with puffy sleeves.  Much to my excitement, my mom took to me a salon to have my hair professionally styled, and I was allowed to wear a string of real pearls.  My cousin, David was the ring bearer, so we walked down the aisle together.  David is only a year and half younger than me, and dressed in his spiffy tuxedo, we got lots of smiles and "awwww's" from the guests in the church.  I remember the night before the wedding David asked his mom when his "bear costume" was going to arrive.  He was under the impression that he was to be a "ring bear."  That story has been told over and over in all the years since.  

The wedding was held in a beautiful Lutheran church here in Oklahoma City.  I remember there being lots of greenery, red bows and warm candlelight.  I remember my aunt and uncle being pronounced "man and wife" and giggling at their first kiss.  And I remember twirling in my red dress at the reception, happy to finally tell my friends that I had finally been a flower girl.

Maybe one day my girls will get their chance. 

What about you?  Ever been a flower girl?