This weekend, I get to play matron of honor for the second time (the first time was my sister’s wedding, two years ago). This time, it’s my beloved college roomie, Bethany, who’s marrying the love of her life. And I am so proud and honored to stand up with her (and even prouder that my sweet husband will be singing at the ceremony).
I didn’t know Bethany well when we became roommates – we’d had a few classes together, but I was closer to our other roommate, Joy, with whom I’d roomed during our semester in Oxford. The three of us spent our junior year together, in a little red-brick house in Abilene, with wood floors and big windows and rich red living room walls. Joy painted the kitchen a cheery cobalt, which matched Bethany’s blue-flowered dishes. We threw “cocktail-less cocktail parties,” at which we wore little black dresses and played Frank Sinatra and served fondue and fancied ourselves utterly sophisticated. Bethany became the official pre-date photographer for J and me, and she and I spent many, many nights talking until the wee hours in our shared bedroom.
After Joy moved out, Bethany and I spent another year in that house, writing papers and drinking tea, reading SO MANY books (for school and for pleasure), watching The Emperor’s New Groove over and over again. We lived together at my sister’s house the summer after we graduated, and I cried that August as I watched her pull out of the driveway, on her way to a new life in Nashville. We kept up, and continue to keep up, via phone and text and Gmail chat, and occasional visits. I was thrilled when she moved back to Abilene in ’08 and we had another whole year and a half together. Totally unexpected and totally wonderful.
She and I have so much in common – most notably our love of books and tea, our tightly knit circle of friends, our religious background (we’re both Baptist girls who wound up at ACU and married Church of Christ boys). When we lived in Abilene we’d sometimes get asked if we were sisters. We said “no,” of course, but the answer is “yes” in all the ways that matter.
We’ve walked together through grief and joy, through tough classes and family issues and deaths of loved ones, through boy troubles and massive uncertainty about the future. We’ve cared for each other when we were sick, flown thousands of miles to see one another, helped each other pack and unpack, and now been in each other’s weddings. She is one of those friends who will always be part of my family, and I’m so glad she has found happiness and love with her Chad.
So happy wedding weekend, B. I love you with all my heart, and I’m so glad and proud to be a part of your special day.
(At my wedding, June 2008. Bethany is on the far left. Photo by Tammy Marcelain.)
cakes, tea and dreams 
I welled up reading this! Hope you all had a fabulously joyful weekend x
[…] Bethany’s wedding was so much fun – a whole weekend spent with old and dear friends, five of us crammed into a hotel room just big enough for us and all our stuff (and about a million inside jokes). Jeremiah serenading everyone at the wedding with Sister Hazel’s “This Kind of Love.” The guys making faces whenever a camera appeared. The welcome sound of so many Southern accents. Bethany, nervous and beautiful in her white dress and veil. Angela, sister of the bride and baker extraordinaire, working hard to make sure the cake didn’t fall. Lots of lip gloss and curling irons, silver high heels and jewelry, and yards and yards of twinkle lights and white tulle. Hugging one dear family who made it all the way up from Abilene. […]