MOTB Chronicles

Katie and Mike are engaged!

My second and last child will soon be married and my job is done. (Some say not, however, but it feels like the ending of a chapter.)

Katie has always been a quiet person. She doesn't like to show her emotions. Even as a little girl, she didn't like to cry or seem too happy. She takes after me. She asked me once how will she know if she likes a boy. I said, "when he says something and that girly giggle just comes out without you being able to stop it." Well, Mike made her giggle, and smile and cry. After he proposed, she couldn't stop smiling, see the picture above? And she cried when she told me how he proposed. Very sweet.

So, I passed on my mother's rings to Mike. Before my mother died, she gave them to my sister. When my sister found out she was dying she gave them to me to give to Katie. She knew they were hers since she was 4 years old. She would try them on from time to time and ask me, "These are mine?" And I'd say, "Yes."

The Gollum in me found it hard to hand them over but I did it. I hope Gandalf and Bilbo are proud of me.

So, now this makes me the Mother of the Bride, MOTB. My first and only chance at this gig.

After 2 weeks at this, this is what I've learned and I'd like to pass it on to those who come after me:

1. You can say all you want to before the engagement, but as soon as the boy proposes, you'll have very definite, strong opinions on how things should go. You didn't even know you had them, they just rise up. It's weird. I already told Katie, "when your daughter gets engaged you'll understand why I'm talking like this!"

2. The daughter, too, has very definite, strong opinions (even the ones who have always been very quiet and compliant) and this is where the classic war begins. I am vowing to prioritize my opinions, carefully choose my battles and give up a lot - because it's really her wedding, not mine.

3. The schitzophrenic emotions that blindsided you when your child graduated high school (happy, sad, proud, worried - all at the same time) will be with you in even greater degrees now. Hang on!

4. Emotions are King and you must stage a logic revolution early. I am already considering renting some insanely high-priced venue because "it's my daughter's wedding." I felt that way with Joel's wedding too. Somehow logic and reality flies out of the window, call it back and feed it well so it will stay.

5. Get some clear-headed, slightly detached person you can trust involved in the process to help you stay in touch with reality.

Note to self: Ask God why in the world would He let menopause and the graduating and marrying of your children happen within the same life phase. Forget pain in childbirth, hormonal craziness in child-leaving is worse!

Boo B Trippin' to Serenbe

I was looking around on the internet for an organic farm that I remembered seeing on a PBS show one day and accidentally came across Serenbe. From the quick glance at the website, I didn't fully take in what Serenbe was, I just knew that it had an organic farm and a restaurant. Since it was less than 45 minutes away, Steave and I took off for a visit.

So, we follow the GPS and arrive in what is called the Chattahoochee Hill Country. We drive down beautifully winding dirt roads...

Past fields of wildflowers...

and horses...

to Serenbe!

The dirt roads finally gave way to paved roads and we found ourselves in the middle of a small town. It was almost like the set of a movie...

We found one of the restaurants that I had read about, parked and went inside. It is called The Hil. I will try my best to not overuse the word, "perfect." But it was! Every detail exact. It was so perfect it was creepy. Steave and I found ourselves feeling a bit like we were in a movie like "The Stepford Wives" or "The Truman Show." The linen table cloths and napkins were crisply starched. The glasses that held our room temperature water never had a fingerprint on them. The smiling and oh so helpful waitstaff were born to read our every move and to fill our every desire (I told you it was a bit creepy). The most hip yet tasteful music softly flowed over us like warm honey. (I recognized Adele and Michael Buble but there were also some Italian and French artists). After we ordered, I went to the bathroom because I knew they would be amazing.

And I was right. Check out the farmhouse-type sink.

Then our food came....chicken salad melt with all natural chicken, fried egg and cheese on an organic bun baked in house served with organically grown greens topped with a lemon vinaigrette.

And a pimento cheese, bacon and fried egg sandwich with golden organic french fries with coarsely ground sea salt...

I don't completely understand their infatuation with fried eggs on every sandwich, but hey, they must know what they're doing.

But the greens......amazing!!

During my trip to the bathroom I came across a rack of brochures that told us about the community. This is what I found out...

"Serenbe is a 1000 acre community with 3 critically-acclaimed restaurants, an inn, organic farm, weekly farmer's market, boutiques, art galleries, stables and private homes. Serenbe is committed to land preservation in that 70% of the 1000 acres will always be preserved green space. There are no lawns (YAHOO) so no chemicals are needed. The development of houses and landscapes are designed to flow with the terrain so as not to disturb the natural landscape. All houses meet EarthCraft's environmental standards - "green homes." The community is devoted to water conservation using the latest techniques. They are also committed to recycling and composting. They abide by the "Farm-to-Table" concept in that all the food that is served at their restaurants was grown at the organic farm that is in the community."

 They also support business by providing a Live/Work housing option. You can buy a space where you can have a living space above a studio/shop (I thought about Joel and Katie and Katie) thereby doing away with the need to commute to work - thereby eliminating the need for a car - thereby cutting down on pollution.

Everything you need is within walking distance. 

They are also about to build a charter school in the community. So, they will have everything they need in one spot! 

Sounds idyllic - Eden-like, doesn't it?  

After lunch, Steave and I went around and looked in some shops. There was a Repurpose Shop (of course).

And a clothing and home decor shop....with the trendiest and hippest items imaginable, all with extremely high price tags...

After a while I actually fell in love with the idea of this type of community.

The street signs and street lamps were brown and designed to look like branches.

One thing I loved that you can see in this picture is that the green space was filled with amazing plants, trees and wildflowers, like this one...

The houses were beautiful and all so different.

No detail was left to chance....even the trash cans...they were split...one side for trash...the other for recycling.

As we went through the community, we passed the stables...

that had a fantastic gate for the drive...

And finally we passed the farms. Next weekend will begin the farm tours and Farmer's Market.

You can't see that there were blueberry bushes lining the street to the farm. Excellent!!

There were not many people around and that was a bit strange. Steave and I wondered how the businesses could survive with so few people. Having so few people around made for a nice visit, however. I love the idea of this type of community. I've always loved the idea of green-living, I just find it difficult to practically live out. So, I'm a green hypocrite - do as I say, not as I do.

I plan to return to Serenbe to eat at "The Farmhouse" restaurant that is in the Inn. We couldn't go there because there was a wedding at the Inn. I also want to go to the Farmer's and Artist's Market.

If you want to know more you can go to the website: http://www.serenbe.com/