Good evening. Ya'll come on in out of the rain and have a seat. We are glad to get the rain for it has been soooo hot and with the heat index, it is 100 plus. Our poor dog has been suffering so we are bringing her in the house everyday. She is going to be even more spoiled.

Sitka is a Siberian Husky who has been sheared for the summer. She doesn't look like a husky except for her head. She looks like "what kind of dog is that?" I will be glad when her hair grows back and she looks like a husky but we have to get that hair off in the summer. They have 3 layers of hair and when we get her sheared, they get a whole big bag of dog hair. Wonder if I could spin it and knit a sweater? Don't think it would smell too good so I will pass on that.

We are having a bunch of weddings around here and I have been busy reading the announcements. Some are rather entertaining and confusing. I have to get a pencil and paper and try to chart these families to see if I can figure out who goes with whom. Some of our families today are sure different that when we were growing up. Most of us had 2 parents, 4 grandparents, and maybe few great-grandparents so it was rather easy to write an engagement announcement.

These days it gets a little more complicated so I thought I would share some examples of a few I have read recently. If they get a little complicated and you can't make heads or tails out of them, welcome to the club. I have changed the names to protect the innocent. Here are a few examples.

Engagement announcement:

This is the traditional announcement from parents of bride and groom – simple, uncomplicated and I can understand what they are telling me.

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Brown are pleased to announce the engagement of Betty Lou Smith to James Joseph Brown. A June wedding is planned at the First Baptist Church in Some Town, Anystate.

Now sometimes it gets a little complicated and it may read a little like this:

Mr. James Thornman and Ms. Rebecca Thornman and Mr. and Mrs. James Black are pleased to announce the engagement of Mary Sue Thornman to John James Black. A June wedding is planned at the Second Baptist Church in Our Town, Anystate.

It seems the bride’s parents no longer share the same house so it is slightly more complicated.

It gets even more convoluted in other situations. Say the parents have remarried and you surely don’t want to hurt feelings so it may read like this:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith and Mr. and Mrs.Robert Brown and Mr. and Mrs. James Black and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Jones are pleased to announce the engagement of Betty Lou Smith to James Joseph Black. A June wedding is planned at the First Baptist Church in Some Town, Anystate.

You almost need to get a chart started to see who belongs to whom or who biological parents are and who stepparents are.

OK? Got that straight? Now one I read the other day was like this:

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith and Mrs. Nancy Smith and companion, Mr. Robert Brown and Mr. and Mrs. James Black and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Jones are pleased to announce the engagement of Betty Lou Smith to James Joseph Black. A June wedding is planned at the First Baptist Church in Some Town, Anystate.

Get that? Now we have a companion- whatever that is so begin a new chart.

Some get even more interesting:
Mr. and Mrs. John Smith and Mrs. Nancy Smith and companion, Mr. Robert Brown and Mr. Robert Black and companion, Mr. Bill Waxman and Mr. and Mrs. Joe Jones are pleased to announce the engagement of Betty Lou Smith to James Joseph Black. A June wedding is planned at the First Baptist Church in Some Town, Anystate.

Now we have 2 companions and one is Robert and Bill. Gets even more complicated, doesn't it?

I give up after this one for I’m not sure I can keep all this straight. Don’t you feel sorry for the wedding planner for that poor soul has to figure out how to seat all these people without someone getting their feelings hurt? It probably could get even more complicated if everyone had companions of various genders and those who have died or those who will soon be killed and on and on.

In our “new society” it gets rather difficult to announce an upcoming wedding or seat everyone when the big day arrives. The bride and groom are probably the only ones who will leave happily and who knows what the engagement announcement of their children will look like.

Oh for the olden days when things were a little simpler.

Life is not simple any more is it or was it ever simple? Maybe we just remember them being simple and uncomplicated because we want to remember it that way. I kinda believe that life was more complicated that I remember or want to remember.

Ya'll come back to see us and be careful going home in the rain.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach