Wedding reception washout

The arch greeted the guests....after the tornado, Jackie and Jerry Parsons sit and ponder the aftermath.

Ok, so I'm an optimist...I had a vision of a beautiful outdoor wedding reception in a luau theme for Phil and Amanda. I actually had a beautiful outdoor reception. All decorated, food all done to perfection, guests arriving on time at 5:00pm....Tornado siren goes off at 5:30. Wait! That was not part of the plan! Some people got to see all the weeks of hard work and planning until we threw them all inside and tied down all the deck tent coverings. We had food put on the tables inside, atleast 80 people throughout the house. Prayers were said, food was served, people chowed down, music played, laughter was heard, everyone pitched to help and I had many looks of pity, or maybe it was the look of "I'm so glad this is you and not me". Time to cut the cake. The cake had to be moved to another table...NO it didn't fall over. The table we wanted the cake on had a HUGE cooler of lemonade on it. Some sweet young men picked up the cooler to put it on the deck outside....Yes, it dropped to the floor and lemonade was everywhere. My only thought was,"I thought it couldn't get worse, but it actually did!" The poor kid was horrified. The poor lady standing next to it actually had the lemonade splash up under her dress! I wondered why everyone was calling her "sticky legs" all night. The floor was cleaned up and the cake was cut and it was delicious. We all had fun but I was glad when the last dish was washed and my house looked more normal. I couldn't have done this without my wonderful family. Thanks Mom, Midge, Greg, Deidra and a big thanks to Stephanie and Donna Starkey. You guys ROCK! I have a plaque that reads "Through the storms of life, you never walk alone" So true, so true.