One of my favorite letters

Even before this year and this project, I've written lots of letters.

When I was a kid, we moved several times. So, I wrote to friends in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Monroe, Louisiana; Plainview, Texas; and, Winnsboro, Louisiana. I also wrote to family...my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...after I left for college, my parents and brother and sister. Even though my husband and I have rarely been apart for long in the 20 years we've been a couple, I've written quite a few love letters to him. And, in my daughter's almost-nine years, I've written several letters to her.

But, I must say one of my favorite letters to write was the one inviting friends and family to our wedding in May 1991.

We didn't have what many people would call a traditional wedding. Our ceremony was in a park in Lubbock, Texas, on a bright spring morning. Lace and pearls really wasn't my style, so I had a simple but beautiful wedding dress made from a cream-colored cotton brocade. Instead of a veil, I had my hair up in a bun and the bun was encircled with cream-colored roses and baby's breath flowers. Those same fresh flowers made up my small bouquet. They also decorated our wedding cake, which I made myself. We didn't intend to have a wedding cake, but my mom insisted, so I said, "Well, if I have to have one, I'll just make it myself." And, I did, from a recipe we found in Country Living magazine. Instead of traditional music, our friend, Lubbock-based musician D.G. Flewellyn, played the guitar and sang. I walked down the "aisle" with my parents as D.G. sang "The Wedding Song (There is Love)." We wrote our own vows, of course. Afterwards, we all gathered at my little duplex for barbecue and wedding cake.

With all of that planned, fancy, engraved wedding announcements would have been out of character. So, I found some nice cream-colored stationery with a pretty deckle edge. And, with my cartridge/calligraphy pen loaded with brown ink, I hand-wrote each invitation in the form of a letter. At the time, it had been a few years since I had done much calligraphy, so I was a little out of practice. Additionally, with our less-than-formal style, we didn't want an overly flowerly lettering, so I combined a few different scripts until I came up with a Celtic-like look we wanted.

Those letters were a joy to write, inviting our closest friends and family members to a very special day for us. Many came to celebrate with us, and this year we'll celebrate 18 years of marriage.