Author's Notes

This poem was written two days before we were supposed to leave for Vermont. Kodi had spent the day packing all the items needed for the ceremony. That evening when I got home from work, I washed a couple of loads of clothes and laid out the clothes that I wanted to take for the trip, so that Kodi could pack our clothes the following day. The last washer load of clothes included the shirts that we were going to wear for the ceremony. It was getting late and we were both really tired, when Kodi asked if I thought it would be okay to throw our shirts in the dryer because she wanted to get into bed soon. The label on our shirts said that they could be dried in the dryer on a low setting. Even though I knew her wedding shirt was a thin 100% cotton material, I suggested we try it.

When the dryer sounded off, I went to check on our shirts. I pulled mine out, and I could tell that it had shrunk some. Then I pulled Kodi's out, and my heart just sank. It now looked like a child's shirt. Without a word I walked into the bedroom where Kodi was and held up the shirt. She didn't see it at first, but when it finally registered to her what happened, she was livid. Kodi, who is normally the cool, calm, and collected one in our relationship, had a complete meltdown. Kodi tried it on and the sleeves rode up, and it was really tight across the back of her shoulders. She was so not happy and pretty much blamed me for ruining her shirt.

I tried my best to console her, but nothing I said seemed to help. The next thing I knew, she was crying. I tried to tell her that it would be okay, that I would call tomorrow and try to order her a new shirt; however, she seriously doubted that would be possible. She even told me that she was going to have to change her wedding letter to me. When I asked her why, she said, "Because it's a lie now." She'd written that even if everything went wrong for the ceremony, it would still be okay, but now with this, she was so not okay. That comment pretty much broke my heart, and it was the last thing she said to me before she fell asleep that night.

Needless to say, I didn't sleep well at all that night. The next morning, Kodi was still asleep when I left for work. I felt absolutely horrible, so I sat down at my computer and wrote this poem for her, and then sent it in an email to her, knowing that checking her email is one of the first things she does when she wakes up. I wanted my apology to be waiting for her.

After I sent Kodi the poem, for the rest of the morning, I tried desperately to find her a new shirt, but every medieval store I called was sold out or didn't have the same shirt. At one point, I even had one store hold a different shirt. Then I called Kodi to see if it would work. But no, she only wanted the wedding shirt, which no one seemed to have, so I called and cancelled the order. Then I called Kodi back and we talked for a while. She seemed to be feeling a little better than she had the night before. She'd tried on her shirt again and it wasn't as bad as she'd first thought it was, so she thought it might be okay to wear. I told her what someone at work mentioned to me, about washing the shirt again and then putting it on while it was still wet and stretching it.

Eventually, we got off the phone and I decided to call Kodi's sister (the one who was the High Priestess of our handfasting). I knew she was a seamstress and could probably offer some suggestions on how to fix the shirt. We talked for a little bit, and she did have some suggestions, as well as helping me to calm down, and I asked her to call Kodi. I felt a lot better after talking to her, and I figured she could do the same for Kodi. So, I asked if she would call and talk to her, which she did. Afterwards, Kodi called and thanked me and told me that she loved me and that talking to her sister really helped.

In the end, everything worked out. A few days before the ceremony, we washed Kodi's shirt. Then she put it on and stretched it a bit and hung it up to dry. On the day of our handfasting, Kodi's shirt was fine and was the least of her worries, since it rained, and she and her family had to scramble to bring the ceremony inside. But I'll save that for another author's notes.

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