Would a flower girl....

still be a flower girl is she didn't walk down the isle and sprinkle the petals?

Yes, that would be my daughter! Last weekend, Ainsley was a flower girl in a wedding for a friend of ours from church. We were wondering how it would go because you see, Ainsley has this little thing that she can't stand. Unlike most little girls, Ainsley hates to be oohed and "aaahed" at. She loves dressing up and is quite the little girly girl, but when it comes to showing everyone how pretty she looks, forget it.

When we arrived at the rehearsal she was very excited. A bit apprehensive, but excited none the less. Then came time to walk through what she was going to do during the wedding. After all, that is why we were there. She did a great job walking down the isle and standing at the front as expected until she realized that everyone was watching and the mother of the bride and I had decided we better have her practice tossing the petals from her basket. DONE! That was it. She had totally checked out and crying to please go home! We were able to get her back over to practice after everyone had left so that NO ONE was watching her but mommy and daddy. She did great! She walked down the "isle" 3 times tossing petals.

Fast forward to wedding time, Saturday afternoon. She had gone and gotten her hair done (which by the way, she did not want to come out of the bathroom at the salon with her flower girl dress on because as she said "i don't want people to go aaaahhhhhh") and looking absolutely darling. We headed to the park early so that she could see the set up of the chairs and practice one last time before everyone arrived. She wouldn't do it. She said over and over that she was scared and bless her heart, I could tell she really was....

This poor little baby has a true fear of the unknown. She does not like to do anything without a full explanation of what EXACTLY is going to take place. And, believe me, both Mommy and Daddy had tried to explain everything we could possibly think of. This is how the story went.

"Ainsley, you know how Cinderella went to a ball? She got all dressed up and the prince picked her as the pretty princess to go with, right? Well, Amanda picked you as the pretty princess to sprinkle flower petals on the ground for her to walk on as she walked up to her prince to get married to him. There are going to be lots of people in the chairs that want to see you sprinkle petals so that Amanda has a pretty path to walk on as she heads up to meet her Prince Charming!"

Okay, so, the scene had been set. Everything should be perfect. She loves the Disney princesses so even though she is just about to be 5, she should understand the story that was just told to her and how it related to her special day. Yeah, uh-huh, sure!!!!!!

She made it down the stairs and all the way up to the chairs (where I was sitting in the very last row right at the isle) and when she looked up and saw all the people, that was it. The look of terror hit her face, the tears began to flow, the sobbing came, and she fell into my arms as I told the cute little ring bearer to head on up the isle without her.

I was so bummed for Amanda. But, then I remembered as I sat there holding my poor little angel, how ecstatic I was the day I got married. And, if Amanda was anything like me, she could care less that Ainsley got scared and was not able to put rose petals on the ground for her to walk on. After all, at the end of the day, Amanda and Tamar were still married. The wedding was picture perfect. Right down to the rain stopping LITERALLY as Amanda began to get ready to head down the isle. The clouds broke, the sun came out, and the vows were unbelievable. I have honestly never been at a wedding that was so surrounded by the presence of God.

So, Ainsley realized that it was all over and was able to smile pretty for some pictures. And, as we all figured, Amanda could care less. Heck, truth be told, marriage starts at the wedding. Marriage isn't perfect, neither should the wedding be.

My beautiful little Prince and Princess!!!