A LOVELY 4TH OF JULY IN THE FUTURE--AVERY'S WEDDING

It all started with a FaceTime call early one morning last week. Our 4 year old Avery, deep in thought.  “Are you available on the 4th of July? Not the next one. I’m getting married. I’m too little now. When I’m older.”

Bemused, but with all due seriousness, Howard and I replied, “Absolutely! Who are you marrying?”

“Lucas.” (Her friend). 

Of course, the menu was her first task. “We’re having carrots and broccoli. I’m not sure about appetizers” (What does she know from appetizers? For that matter, what does she know about weddings?)

“Only vegetables?” we asked. She smiled broadly and nodded. “There’s something special for the people getting married. Corn on the cob and a chicken leg.” 

“You’ll be a very elegant bride with a chicken leg in one hand and corn on the cob in the other.” She nodded and said “I’ll have 2 white dresses.”  Of course—it’s good to plan for the probable foodstain-on-the-dress scenario. I didn’t tell her then, but she’ll probably need dental floss, too.

Avery always liked my carrots with brown sugar. I offered to make the carrots. She thought for a minute and said “But they have to be roasted. And this big” And she held her hands about 3 inches apart. 

“Why roasted?” I asked.

"Because they taste so good that way.” Okay—I guess that our baby is growing up. Though later, Tracy asked which she liked better. She liked both. But yes, roasted is more elegant for a wedding.

Cory’s fiancee, Judy, has been sublimating all of her creative energy into baking, as have so many during this pandemic. We’ve seen photos of gorgeous croissants, puff pastry, cake. “Avery,” I said, “Aunt Judy’s been baking. Maybe she can bake the wedding cake.” Avery thought about this for a moment. “She can make animals. Not real animals. Little ones with icing and rice crispies.” To make sure that we understood, she used her fingers to show us her preference on size. “Good idea,” Howard said.

“I have to call Grammy about the salad,” and the call ended.

 We spoke with Cory and Judy the next day. Howard and I started to tell them about the wedding. They were a step ahead of us. Cory told us that Avery’d figured out how to dial his number and that she’d called them about 20 times that day already, with requests, instructions and changes to requests. I think that 20 calls was an exaggeration, but knowing Avery’s tenacity and her total absorption in this endeavor, she could have made 20 calls. Cory couldn’t keep track of all of the details, but Judy, ever diligent, had jotted them down. “She wants 3 kinds of cupcakes—all vanilla but with different icings—mint icing, vanilla icing, and chocolate icing. And a cake that has chocolate/vanilla twirl like she’d seen at the ice cream truck.

On our next call, I asked Avery how the wedding planning was going. An evolving project, she’s already changed her dress choice. She’s going to wear a pink dress. And high heels. But she figured out the appetizers and asked me to make chocolate chip pancakes. “Little ones, like this,” as she made a circle with her thumb and forefinger. Okay—Howard and I like creative weddings. Mini chocolate chip pancakes are the perfect way to celebrate—moving away from the standard pigs-in-a- blanket.

Yesterday, Tracy called and told us that Avery wanted to go to Starbucks to get cakepops for Cory and Judy and for us to thank us for helping with the wedding. Avery told Tracy to buy four so we don’t have to share, since we’ll need a snack while we work on the project.

All of us, as well as many friends, have cracked up as we envisioned this wedding. But, we can learn a lot from Avery’s work in progress:

PLAN AHEAD

            ALWAYS DO SOMETHING NICE FOR THOSE WHO ARE KIND TO YOU