From the time she got engaged, Melanie was insistent that Lucy be a flower girl in her wedding. I was skeptical. There were no kids in our wedding because a) we had no little kids that needed to be included and b) I couldn't handle the panties-showing, tantrum throwing x-factor. Nini, however, is a pro. She likes kids (not just ones she's related to) and she accepts their eccentricities. So, we agreed, when Lu was a tiny squirming infant, that she would be Nini's flower girl...someday in the distant future, when she was capable of scene-blocking and taking direction.
So, some things did not happen in the year since her anointing as flower girl:
Did not learn to follow simple commands.
Did not learn to walk in straight, focused line.
Did not learn to be quiet.
Did not grow much hair.
And yet, to Nini's credit, she let none of these failures disqualify Lucy from her post. We did lots of training in that meringue of a dress: "Look at Lucy, so pretty!" She would see her dress hanging in the closet and say "Dess Nini dess ohh!" We'd put it on her and she would gasp with excitement. Nini even gave her a pearl necklace and bracelet to wear, which she exclaimed over all day: "neck-ice bace-it ohh."
Except in the moment of truth. We put her dress on at the very last possible second to avoid having it smeared with...whatever. And instead of "ohhh" we got "oss oss oss," which is Lu for "Dude, this shit is hot and itchy, get it off me." Which, despite how gorgeous we looked, is pretty much how we were all feeling.
Yet she carried on, performing her official duty as godchild/showpiece and causing limited embarrassment. She walked up the aisle with me, and when we got to our post, she exclaimed, in a medium volume, the names of every single person she recognized, fixating ultimately on Emily and Debbie ("Mimi? Debbie? Mimi? Debbie?"). When the string processional ended, she clapped and said "Yea!" She lasted until the homily, when she began to wander around to greet the guests. I gave Granny the signal and Lucy made her exit.
She was the belle of the reception, running around like a crazed creampuff. She even managed to horn in on the first dance, which Melanie and Adam were gracious enough to let her crash. The only person prettier was our Melanie, who took my breath away. This bride couldn't possibly have had the show stolen from her, despite being generous enough to share it with a hammy, disruptive child.