My favorite wedding present (a long overdue post)

Throughout my whole life there has been one person I have always adored and will never forget. She has placed an unbeatable impact on my life. My 2nd grade teach, Mrs. Nancy Russell.

No matter how many rough memories I have of public school, 2nd grade always puts a smile on my face. You see, Mrs. Russell inspired me to write all the time. She even got one of my books published and put in the schools library. Mrs. Russell is probably the reason I write this blog.

When Mrs. Russell saw our wedding announcement in the Michigan City News Dispatch, she didn't waste one minute before calling my parents house to congratulate me on the engagement. Of course, I wasn't there and neither were my parents but she made sure to leave a message for them to give to me and left her phone number so I could contact her. I had wanted to invite her to the wedding and that message made that invitation solid. As soon as my parents told me she had called and gave me the number, I called her. She and I have always been close and tried to keep in contact over the years, and as trying as it may be, we have managed.

A year later, she came to the wedding but she couldn't come to the reception. As a matter of fact, she bearly had the time to come to the wedding but she came anyway. A couple of days before the wedding, she dropped a present off at my parents house. It included a decorative pillow, a journal that she wrote a sweet note in and the big bomb, a book of poems that I had written and gave her in SECOND GRADE. She kept it all those years and that meant a great deal to me. It brought tears to my eyes even. I couldn't stop shaking when I saw it. Then we read it a got a really good laugh at 8 year old me's expense. It really, truly to this day is my favorite wedding gift. I don't think she will ever know just how much it meant to me. Here are a few pictures from the book:

I'm pretty sure my favorite "poem" is this one (pictured with the seashells on it lol):
"Seashell, Seashell what do you wish" By Brittany Seppyes
Seashell, seashell what do you wish?
I'm here on the hot sand, I want to be with the fish.
Throw me out in the sea please!
Okay, I'll throw you far into the sea!
I wonder what I shall do now.
I will leave the beach and go feed the cow.

My 8 year old masterpiece. Don't even try to pretend it wasn't brilliantly hilarious.