The Magnolia Leaf Fight

Today is the 13th anniversary of the great magnolia leaf fight. Now you might be thinking that it must have been some fight for me to remember the date. It was, in fact, the day before our wedding. Donnie and I had left Charleston and headed to Walterboro Friday morning. I led him to the motel where he and his family were staying and went by my house to drop off some things. Since we did a lot of things ourselves we were supposed to clip magnolia leaves to use as greenery at my grandparent's house. I went back by the motel to get Donnie so he could help and he was NOWHERE to be found. I thought it was a little odd, but I went on to my grandparents and Granddaddy and I went to work. Granddaddy was at times a quiet man, but get him by himself and he was a really funny guy. We joked and talked as we worked, although I can't for the life of me remembered what we talked about. We loaded the back of his little Ford Ranger "slap full" with these leaves and started for the church, me riding in the back of the truck to make sure they were okay. (Yes, I am aware that is not smart and most likely, illegal) We dropped by to see if Donnie had returned. Still no Donnie. We unloaded, went back to the hotel to check again, and still could not find my future groom. I should have known this would be a precursor of things to come because Donnie will still go for rides and not return before I am irate in a timely manner. My temper was rising each time we stopped by and could not find him, and the madder I got, the more tickled my granddaddy got. Another load was clipped, taken to the church and you guessed it, Donnie was still missing. Finally a third load was being clipped and I was so mad I could have spit nails. Granddaddy was all out laughing by this point. After our final load, we went back by to find that Donnie, his family and all of his groomsmen were hanging out, watching TV and totally oblivious to the pack that I was about to blow my stack. He answered the door, ever so casually, "Hey, Babe, what's up?" Well, I told him what was up - my blood pressure! After listening to me rant and rave a few minutes and apologizing profusely (there again, a glimpse into the future), all was well. Looking back it is probably to only fight I actually remember, but here is why I remember it. If Donnie had shown up, I would have missed out on that time with my grandfather and now that he is gone, I would trade that for anything. That and the fact that it is one of my funniest wedding stories.