2018 Life Logs, Day 251—Reception for Billy and Ashley
Date: Saturday, September 8, 2018
Weather: Overcast, Rain Late; High 88, Low 69 F
Location: At Home with Rex and Diana Thaxton, St. Albans, WV
Our morning started with a quick trip to the Blenko Glass Factory, something I just wanted to see and Diana wanted to go with me After that visit, Diana and I met Rex and Rachel, Rex’s daughter at Rachel’s son Kit’s soccer game. Then this afternoon Rex and Diana hosted a reception for Rex’s son Billy and his wife Ashley. Billy and Ashley were actually married a few months ago, but there was no big celebration at the time. Today was the day and it was a lovely affair.
The only negative was that Diana’s mother Cassie, who lives across the street, called Diana about an hour before the reception began and asked her to come over. She wasn’t sure what happened, but she reported to Diana that her leg gave way and she just went down. Not really a fall, but just went down to the floor. Diana called 911 because her mother seemed confused. When the EMTs arrived they could only tell Diana that her mother’s blood pressure was extremely high and that they would take her to the hospital for further tests. It ended up that Diana took her to the hospital and didn’t get to come home until after the reception had ended. I know she was disappointed, but she is very close to her mother and certainly knew she wanted to be with her. For the reception, we all did what we could to carry on in her absence and everything worked out fine. Tonight Diana is home and her mother is staying in the hospital. It was determined that she had a mini-stroke and she needs to be under observation as the blood pressure is still high. She has no apparent issues from the stroke other than a little difficulty retrieving words. Diana is doing fine, but naturally she is extremely concerned. Let’s all hope that tomorrow brings good news.
Now back to the happy times. At 4 pm, loads of friends of Billy and Ashley’s and friends of Rex and Diana’s arrived to celebrate Billy and Ashley’s marriage. Ashley has three children and now she and Billy are the proud parents of a beautiful baby named Adeline. I had never met Ashley and I was so delighted meet her, her older children, and baby Adeline. For me, it was such a joy to see Billy as a father.
Rex and Diana had the reception catered, so in Diana’s absence, I watched the food table to make sure more food was brought out when needed so that Rex could spend time with his guests.
I had met most of his friends in prior years, but it was great to see them again. One friend they call Disco Dave was the DJ for the event.
Rex’s brother Barry and his wife Beth
were here and Beth took care of all the set up. She had attended to every minute detail to make it a special event. White paper was put on the outside tables and then pink roses were strewn on the tables with the help of Rex and Diana’s granddaughter Emma.
Rex’s daughter Rachel was also pitching in to host in Dianna’s absence.
The rain held off so everyone could socialize and have appetizers outside. There were lots of children who played together so beautifully, but they were hungry bears and we served the food earlier than planned to keep them happy. After we ate, it was time for a toast
and cutting the wedding cake. Beth had the cake made and it was beautiful.
When it came time for the bride and groom to feed each other a piece of cake, Billy was so funny. He evidently expected Ashley to gently put a piece of cake in his mouth, but the piece was bigger than he expected. It took him by surprise and he ended up with it all over his mouth—all in fun.
Later in the evening, the younger crowd took their children home and the older crowd stayed around to watch the West Virginia University football game. Diana got home in time to see some of her friends and watch some of the game and then we ended up staying up into the wee hours of the morning talking. Wonderful day with family.
