a day to remember.

My brother, Cody, had bought me tickets to see Miranda Lambert in concert as a college graduation gift back in May. The concert was this past Sunday night. Cliff & I had a few things to return in Savannah, so after church we made a day in Savannah until the concert began at 7:30pm. We picked up last minute Groomsmen gifts, a few beach towels and sunscreen for the honeymoon, a new long-sleeved [yes, in the summer] polo, and me a new bikini! We swung by Carey Hilliards on the way out and grabbed a bite for dinner, then headed to the Civic Center! Once we got there and settled into our seats, I realized I wasn't able to see as well as I would've like to. I thumbed through my purse and whipped out my contacts. A little background about these bad boys.. I've been battling "viral conjunctivitis" since November. Every time I leave my contacts out, take the drops, then put them back in weeks later..my eyes flare up and honestly look like I've had a hangover with no sleep for a week. So after a month of leaving them out, I figured I would be fine!

Yesterday morning, Cliff pops up and realizes he is running late for work. He hollers, "Cait, Caitttt, wake up. I'm running late. Help me!" As I lean up [from having a minor heart attack from his crazy screaming] and open my eyes wideeeee [from being pure shocked].....only ONE pops open! Gross, I know, but one was completely matted shut with goook. That's pronounced as "goo-k". After literally prying it open with my fingers, I ran to the bathroom to find it worse than it had ever been before.

[picture taken from my cell phone. doesn't do the eyes justice whatsoever.]

Since I was planning on going to Statesboro to pick up a few last minute wedding decorations, I had told Cliff that I would print out his class assignment and drop it off to him on the way through.

About 9:15am, I called the Ga Eye Institute. After being on hold for 10 minutes before someone even answered, I asked if there was anyway I could come in today and see the Doc. She mumbled as she must've been scrolling through the computer looking for an open spot and said, "yes, we have an appointment open for 2 o'clock. Is that good?". CRAP! Who would've thunk it would've been at the EXACT time I had a meeting scheduled with our tent rental lady an hour away! "Ok, I'll take it", I said. "Ok, be here at 1:30pm please", she said.

My store opens at 10:00am. Thankfully, my sweet cousin Taylor is helping me work during the week to keep up with all of the orders. I messaged her and told her I would be coming in late, if at all. I called Mom and told her to reschedule our meeting with the tent lady.

At 10:18am, Taylor sends me this message "Where's the money?! It's not in the drawer."
I wrote back, "Seriously?".
She said, "Yeah!! I dunno where it is! I've looked everywhere! The back door wasn't locked either!"

Holy.freak.out.

I immediately picked up the phone and called April (business partner/future mother-in-law). No answer.

April & Madison (future sister-in-law) were the last ones to work the store on Saturday. I needed to know where the money was when they left the store on Saturday afternoon!

After trying April a few more times, I called Madison.

"Madison! When yall left the store on Saturday, what did yall do with the money?!"

She replied, "oh, Mom took it. She wanted to count it all. She forgot to bring it back up there, didn't she?!"

[Sigh.of.relief]

Thankfully, no robber had slipped through our UN-LOCKED backdoor while we had been gone all weekend!

Still, we remained without any cash or change period.

E-mails start coming through on my phone about this time. One from a customer asking if we could do a sand pail for him & have it ready before lunch today or tomorrow because tomorrow is his last day in town. Well, we are closed tomorrow and by this time, it's 11:15am.

A text message comes thru with another customer wanting an acrylic tumbler.

Immediately after, a text message comes thru with a customer asking about vinyl lettering on t-shirts.

It was on. Full force. Fast pace. You name it.

Ok, I've got to:

• print out Cliff's assignment
• get his bookbag, flashdrive, and assignment together
• write down these three orders & get started creating them
• figure out where the cash is & get it back in the cash drawer
• go all the way to Statesboro (which is wayyyyyy out of the way), drop off Cliff's bookbag to him, then make it to my appointment before 1:30 to get these crazy eyes fixed!

It's now 11:50ish and I still haven't heard from April as to where the cash may be hiding. I run to the bank, get out $100 of personal cash and run it back into Taylor at the store.

I print out Cliff's assignment, grab his flashdrive, & try to help Tay on the sand pail before I left.

After she's got the hang of it, I get in my car and head towards Statesboro.

CRAP, I left Cliff's assignment laying right on the corner of the desk at the store! Turn-around..

Picked it back up & headed to him. I called him & told him I was on the way.

10 minutes later, he calls and says "Cait, we are going to lunch. It's not on my time. I can't help it. Can you meet me at Wendy's?"

I'm already scrambling here, and now you are wanting me to travel further into town, out.of.my.way., to give you all of your stuff?! [ughhh] "Cliff, I'm running late..is there anyway you can give me 10 mins and I'll be right there?" [with an annoyed tone]

His reply, "Just go to the subdivision, all the way in the back is our truck with the trailer attached. Just throw it in the back of the truck. Make sure you throw it now, don't lay it in there or anything. I want to see just how mad you are at me!"

[bust.out.laughing.to.myself]

"Ok, sure will!" I said & we hung up the phone.

Two seconds later, "Thx u" came thru on my phone from him.

I reply, "kma". [also known as "kiss my a**] ha.

Cliff: "Make sure flash drive is n there".

Me: "Anything for you, honey."

------Fast foward------

I walk to the front desk to check-in at the eye doctor. The lady asks for my information, then continues on to make sure my address and other information is still current. I went ahead and changed our P.O. Box to the new one. She then asks, "what's your marital status?" I immediately replied, "Single. Well, actually I'm getting married Friday..?" She says, "Whoaaa, you're getting married Friday? And your eye looks like that?! Wow, you don't seem to nervous to be getting married in 5 days. I'm hoping they can get that fixed for you!" "Thank you, I truly hope so too."

Doctor's diagnosis: bacterial conjunctivitis.

"Ok Doc, listen. I've been battling this since November. First it was viral conjunctivitis, I did the drops like you said, put the contacts back in and wa-la, flare-up. I left the contacts out for weeks, tried it again and, guess what? Flare-up. So I called your office, they set me up another appointment. I came back in, got it check out, still was viral conjunctivitis. Gave me different meds, told me to take them for at least two weeks. I took them for a month, till there was absolutely no drops left in all three bottles. Tried to put my contacts in again, flare-up. Left them out, put them back in weeks later for my first bridal shower. By mid-afternoon, all of my guests probably thought I had been crying my eyes out. I called your office the week after, you told your nurse that viral conjunctivitis just has to take it's course and that I didn't need to wear them for at least six weeks. Ok, so I did that. It's been over six weeks now, I put them in just last night and wake up like this. Now, you're telling me it's bacterial conjunctivitis. You don't by any chance think that it's the contact lenses? My eyes just are not getting enough oxygen! I'm getting married on Friday and they can't look like this!"

"Ohh, you're getting married Friday?! Wow. We've got to speed up this healing process then!"

After calling in my prescriptions he says, "I want to see you at the end of this week. Friday. I want to see you Friday. Can you come back in?"

"Umm..I don't know about that. I'm spending the night from Thursday night on in Statesboro. Is there anyway I can see you at the Statesboro office instead?"

"Yes, I'll let you see my partner. She will be there Friday."

"Mmmk. I guess I will see her early Friday then!"

Friday. The day of our wedding. I have to go to the eye doctor at 8:30 and get this crap checked out. Great!

As if yesterday wasn't going bad anyway...

Cliff calls me as I'm leaving and says, "I talked to April earlier, how about my Mom isn't coming to rehearsal dinner."

"Say what? She's not coming? Are you serious?"

"Yep! I don't know much, just that she's not coming. She must have vacation bible school or something."

"Woooowwww."

[A little tid-bit: his parents are divorced and have been for years now. We have been trying really hard to include his Mom and give her options and a part in this wedding. She has pretty much declined all offers with some excuse. She couldn't make it to the Bridal Luncheon this past Saturday because it was kick-off for VBS at her church. Now, she's saying she can't even make it to rehearsal dinner...]

Cliff doesn't let it show, but I think deep down it truly bothers him. It hurts him. His own Mom isn't there to support him. She never really has in the first place. He has this tiny bit of hope that she will be there, but he's scared to get his hopes up. Then when she backs out, he's not hurt. It's sad. Really sad situation. And it bothers me, because I feel it bothers him.

Bummer. What a day!