For Quincy and Colt's wedding last year, I had a friend build us an arbor. Not just a temporary arbor, but a beautiful piece of artwork that matched out home and that would permanently remain in the front pasture/yard. (Emma and I argue about whether this is a pasture or my yard. She'd like to turn horses out there. Negative ghost rider.) The night before the wedding, someone came up with the idea to brand it, which I think I've already written about. We put our brand on the very top, and the kids put their Rocking A brand on the left side. Emma will put hers on the right someday. And that forms our family triangle. I've thought about maybe letting other members of the family put theirs on the back. Maybe we will do that, maybe not. But I'm hoping our grandchildren will do it for years to come. It ended up being a really unique and wonderful ceremony.
The wedding prep was the next day, the wedding was that evening. The arbor was decorated with gorgeous gigantic magnolias and looked even more magnificent that before. White chairs lined the pasture with an aisle down the middle for our beautiful girl. The Cowboy walked our glowing daughter down the long aisle from our house all the way to the arbor and gave her away to the man of her dreams. The pictures are breathtaking and partly because of that gorgeous arbor. Mostly because of my gorgeous children but this story is about the arbor so humor me.
Every time I pull in the driveway, I remember that beautiful day. You can't help but think of it. Recently, I learned that one of Colt's groomsmen thought our house was a venue. Say what? Colt was like, "Dude, they live here." I'm not going to lie, this made me pretty proud. I worked my rear off for MONTHS and I'm glad it looked good enough to be mistaken for a venue. It was a venue for a day for sure. I'm sure the arbor played a role in that. Does everyone have an arbor just standing in their front yard? LOL? Probably not.
Emma took her college senior pictures in front of the arbor. The kids took their one year anniversary pictures in front of the arbor. Last week they did their gender reveal in front of the arbor and announced that they are having a baby boy by releasing blue confetti into the air. AND... that his name is going to be Charleston Atwood. Can you imagine? Charleston?! Her daddy's eyes swelled up with big ole proud tears of joy. He said "That's a really long name. He's going to have to spell that!" LOL! We aren't raising morons out here honey, he can handle it. #gocharleston Afterwards, the kids offered to help me clean it all up. I wanted to do that for them and for me. I left that confetti in the yard for five days because I loved looking at it. It decorated the arbor beautifully and reminded me of that little boy coming in six short months.
This past Easter, during the quarantine, I planned to have a cross built in front of the arbor so we could have our Easter service out there, but it never got done. I wanted to make an alter under the arbor because a couple of our sacred sacraments have already been performed at that very place. A wedding and communion both. It's a special place. I thought it was a great place to have our Easter service but I think the weather was bad that day and we ended up in the basement. Plus occasionally, I do have animals moving around out there and a cross may not withstand the rubbing. Plus, we don't need an object to worship God. In fact, it's quite frowned upon. I wonder at times if we take the cross a little dangerously far. Luckily we have Jesus who came down off of that cross and saved us from ourselves. He has washed away all of our sins, even the ones we continue to commit.
The arbor is a beautiful reminder of love and I love seeing it each day. In fact, I refused to pick up the blue confetti because I loved just looking at it laying out there. It's kind of become our little sanctuary on the farm and I can't imagine that God finds anything wrong with that. We all need a place of peace. Especially in these strange and trying times.
If you don't have a place, find one. My grandmother's was in her bathroom floor on her knees. Every single day, writing in her journal to God. Find your place to talk to God and go there often. It can be anywhere and everywhere and He hears you in them all. I love my arbor. It's just three pieces of wood but a lot of beautiful memories have occurred standing right there in one short year. I look forward to making more.
P.S. I decided to clean up the confetti last night. Have mercy on a donut. It took me 90 minutes. I'm not kidding. 90 minutes of crawling, squatting and picking. I will not volunteer to do that alone again. Ever. And I've already requested the next reveal be smoke. LOL!
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