6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

The countdown has begun for Maddi and Chris' huge day! Preparations have dominated almost every waking moment for both families as all of the I's need doting, the T's need crossing. This pandemic has affected almost every facet of living, and weddings are not excluded, life's monumental events now requiring endless compromises to pull them off. 

We're at T minus 6 days (the big day is September 25th) and we just watched the Facebook Live wedding video of Rachel Tough to Ian Brown, the first of 3 daughter's nuptials for our life long friends Trish and Micheal Tough. Trish, Mike, Joyce and I have swapped "war" stories and we're all saddened that the pandemic is preventing our families from celebrating each other's children as they take the plunge. From Joyce and I, congratulations to Trish and Mike, Rachel and Ian for a wonderfully emotional ceremony that left us with tears both from laughing and joy.

Maddi and Chris are celebrating their big day at the Cove family cottage at Eagle Lake in Haliburton region, complete with sandy beach, Haliburton Highlands deciduous forest, and the warm+fuzzy comfort of cottage-type scenery creating an intimate, cozy ceremony for immediate family and closest friends. Chris' parents, Tony and Cheryl Cove, have spent a significant portion of the summer upgrading, enhancing, sprucing and bolstering a wide variety of cottage components, Grampa Mike Cove has been tasked with applying his amazing woodworking skills to a number of Maddi-inspired rustic touches, and Joyce and Maddi have talked/texted almost each and every day, sometimes multiple times, discussing plans ad nauseam. 

The old adage warns potential newlyweds that if they can survive the wedding prep and ceremony, they can survive almost anything that life throws at them. IMHO, that's a valid sentiment, especially after seeing how much stress the entire process has dumped in Maddi and Chris' laps. Besides the excitement that the wedding of your daughter brings, I'm as giddy as a kid on Christmas morning in anticipation of what all of the plans will present when they are finally all gathered in a single place, the whole shebang greater than the sum of its parts. Most importantly, I pray that it all produces that same reaction in Maddi and Chris once the day finally arrives. 

One of the single largest sources of frustrations was securing a caterer for the wedding dinner. When the planning started over 2 years ago, a single company was contracted to cover off 99% of the wedding reception complete with physical set up, food, and drinks, but as plans were forced to change both size and location, those different pieces had to be split, requiring a number of different contracts. After dozens of "Not Available's" and a couple of potential contracts falling through, each bringing a new round of teeth-gnashing, gut wrenching worry, a caterer was confirmed just a couple of weeks ago. 

That's cutting it close!

Despite all of the components of a "Princess" wedding that have to be conceded with a cottage ceremony, there are many things that are enhanced in such surroundings, not the least of which will be the easy comfort that it offers. Once the "I Do's" are finally completed, I anticipate the pure Canadiana feelings of relaxation that only the near-fall surroundings of a Muskoka or Haliburton region can offer. One of the senior citizen super powers that come one inherits with age is the confidence that things will work out the way they will work out, and one can only influence what one can influence. We are fully aware ... and more importantly accept ... that some things will not work out the way they were envisioned.

Try telling that to the "youngins" though.

The best news of all is that come Wednesday, the plans will have gained their own momentum, out-of-town guests will begin arriving ... negative Covid tests in hand UUUGH ... at Eagle Lake, and the grimaces should morph into smiles as we all revel in the wonderment that a wedding brings. From where I stand, Joyce has a gorgeous new dress to compliment her undying beauty, I have my snazzy rental tux and am all trimmed up neat 'n tidy, the weather forecast looks promising, and we're both over the moon that our little girl is taking the big step across the threshold of life to land in the arms of the man that she loves more than life itself. 

What else could any self-respecting father ask for?