I Tom Sawyer'd My Daughter

The wedding mints.

Thing 1 has, surprisingly, let me make quite a lot of decisions regarding her wedding. She trusts my judgement and taste, so she pretty much let me have free reign. With very little input from her, I picked out all of the decorations for the reception and church! After each purchase, I would text her pictures of what I had bought, and she would always reply back with "Yea! You're awesome!!" or some variation thereof.

Last winter and spring I was pretty gung-ho on the planning and preparations ... nine months into this, I'm getting wedding burn-out!

At first I suggested mints of different colors in the shape of fall leaves. but as the wedding drew nearer, I was exhausted from the work I had already done and grew tired just thinking of all the things yet to do. Generic, store-bought mints were sounding like a good idea to me! But, my daughter almost cried at the suggestion, so I met her at the cake/candy supply store to pick up what we needed to make them.

I got there first, so I already had everything picked out, but I waited for her to give me the thumbs up before finalizing the purchase. Her fiance came and looked to be about as comfortable as he would in a lingerie department! For someone whose waking hours revolve around cars, engines, and tools, a cake supply shop was about as interesting as a symposium on "The History of Quilting" or "How to Write Chick-Lit"! Still, he loves my daughter, so he drove her over and patiently waited for us to discuss the intricacies of making mints in the shape of maple leaves.

A few days later, she and I went to get our dresses for the wedding altered. When we got back to my house, she suggested we start making the mints. She didn't know how, so she watched me make the first batch. In true Tom Sawyer fashion, I did my best to make it look really, really fun!

"Can I do some?" she asked.

"I guess," I replied, trying to sound like I was having too much fun to stop.

She happily made mints for the next hour or so, humming sweetly as she worked. When she left, I sent her home with the mint-making supplies so that she could finish at her leisure. She smiled and thanked me for showing her how to make mints. She hurried home, delighted and thrilled that I trusted her with this delicate task.

A few days later, she called and said "I spent six hours making mints yesterday, and I'm not done yet! Bridesmaid 1 is coming over tomorrow to help so that we can finish making these stupid things!"

I don't remember if I laughed (out loud) or not! Out of the many hundreds of mints that were made for the wedding, I only made 14. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done!