My husband’s mother passed away years before I met him, so when we were planning our wedding I was really honored that my (then) future father-in-law offered me his late wife’s Belgian lace wedding handkerchief to carry (my something old).

There was a newer florist near my office that I’d used for arrangements a few times. It was an easy walk over lunch time and I met with Jim, the co-owner, several times, getting a lot of attention from him in planning my wedding flowers. When I showed him the handkerchief he said he would roll it into a rose and put it into my bouquet. BUT … he didn’t want to be responsible for it for two months and asked that I bring it in the Wednesday before the wedding.

So now it’s the Wednesday before the wedding and I take a walk over to the florist’s on my lunch hour to give him the handkerchief. Jim isn’t at the counter, but it IS lunchtime, so I’m not worried. I ask “Where’s Jim?” Counter girl, “He’s on vacation.” Me (puzzled), “When will he be back?” Counter girl, “I don’t know. I think he’s actually moving to Minneapolis.” Me (worried), “Who’s handling my wedding on Saturday?” Counter girl, “What wedding?”

I made it back to my office before I got hysterical. One of the women in my office calmed me down, we divided the florist section of the yellow pages and found another florist who agreed to handle the wedding which was just 3 days away. The flowers turned out lovely, and the new florist even put my late mother-in-law’s handkerchief into my bouquet.

I don’t know if Jim knew two months out that he would bail on my wedding, but I’m so glad he didn’t take custody of the handkerchief when I first “gave” it to him!

By the way, Jim’s brother, and co-owner of the shop called me the next morning to apologize … Jim had, indeed, left town, but his brother said he would, of course, handle the wedding. I told him I’d already made alternate plans. He apologized again and sent a lovely arrangement to our home several weeks later. Still, I never used that florist again.

F Tessa Bartels