LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
By the time this post is read, the Fiancé Friendlies will be underway. If you’re not familiar with the term friendly, Sports Stack Exchange describes it as:
the term for all games that are not competitive fixtures… most common in pre-season, as sort of a training to find “the form” and raise the tempo. Also, they’re often used by coaches to experiment with tactics and try out new players.
We have a few new players joining the family. I may have mentioned in an earlier post that I’m one of five and the five of us each have ONE – and one of us has TWO – children getting married this year. Six weddings in eight months. Engagement parties, bridal showers, registries, dresses, color palettes, venue visits, flowers, menus – times SIX.
And it really is ALL JOY!
This long weekend, my husband and I are hosting The Engageds – and their parents – in Tahoe. We’ve cooked up some nuptial nonsense: friendly snow activities and a wild-goose-chase scavenger hunt. Snowflakes dance on the deck. Fresh baked banana muffins call from the counter. Sweets and treats await. But mostly we look forward to doing what we do best when we’re all together: laugh, love, be family.
The Nevermores poetry prompt for this week was to write an acrostic with a word associated with love or Valentine’s Day. I ambitiously attempted two.
©2024 Patricia J. Franz
i. Fiancé Friendlies
Family fun in freezing forest
Irreverent idea
Arranged by aunts (and uncles)
Nuptial nonsense
Celebrating crazy couples at the cabin
Enlivening the engagements
Forever
Rituals
Inspire
Entertaining evenings
Nevermind
Dresses and wedding details
Laugh, get lost
Immerse yourselves before I do’s
Exchanged, encircled in
Sierra snow
©2024 Patricia J. Franz
ii. Fiancé Friendlies
on the edge of forever
between independence and I
do’s, promises of always
something old, something new
a crazy cousin celebration
of engagements
fiances and family
rituals and rings
learning what’s important
what’s eternal
what you need
destination weddings? dresses? maybe dreams
leap of faith in life, in love
let inspiration intercede
aunts and uncles encircle
tend the planted seeds
What a pleasure to announce
the winner of a copy of
A STONE IS A STORY:
MARY LEE HAHN
It’s Poetry Friday!
Please hop over to Margaret Simon’s Reflections on the Teche and enjoy a weekend of poetry goodness!
Patricia Franz is a kidlit writer and published poet. She believes children, dogs, and sourdough have a lot to teach us about life, joy, and wonder. She has raised two boys, four dogs, and holds a master’s degree in Theology with a focus on children’s spirituality. Patricia, her husband, her Bernese Mountain dog, Bonny, and her sourdough starter split their time between the Arizona desert and the Sierra Nevada mountains. 
I think you’ll have a plethora of ideas and you’ll need to make time to write them into gorgeous poetry. Have a gloriously fun year.
Patricia, Fiance Friendlies – how fun (and clever)! Your house sounds like the ULTIMATE bed & breakfast. Fun and fresh baked banana muffins!
Wow, amazing celebrations coming, and starting off with this one, Patricia. Love does make the world go around and it appears your family knows it! Love the “tend the planted seeds”! Exactly! Wishing you a fabulous time!
Patricia, I am astounded by your ability to host a family get-together, create games, food bites, and poetry to entice all to live, laugh, and enjoy happiness. Your poems are delightful to read. I can only imagine how much fun you will bring to the festivities. Enjoy your Fiance Friendlies time together because families matter.
Love “on the edge of forever between independence and I do’s…’ I know you will all have a rollicking good time, and somehow you also managed to write! Enjoy the time with family, and save a muffin for me!
Your poems express such fun and family friendlies! That is a lot of weddings in such a short time. It sounds like your family gets along well and will be excited for each event.
Fun poems, fun weekend! Enjoy, Patricia.
Wow! That is a LOT of weddings all at once. How fun and let the games begin! I can only imagine the wonderful memories being made right now. Make sure you get lots of photo for future grands. This is a tradition that needs to be held with great care. I do love the mix of silly and serious in your lines. Enjoy every moment.
Have tons of fun!!!
Sounds like a fabulous weekend planned. What cool acrostics! Enjoy your time together.
Love this idea of Fiancé friendlies. And your poems capture the blend of fun and love. Enjoy.
Wow, Patricia sounds like a lot of fun for everyone! Six weddings beats my two weddings for this year. Are all your weddings in the same state? My two weddings are my sister’s son and daughter getting married six weeks apart in WI. It’s great that you have eight months to spread out all the joy. Both of your acrostic poems are great! In your first poem I especially like these lines: Family fun in freezing forests, celebrating crazy couples at the cabin, and your last four lines of the couples laughing and having fun before their vows, encircled in Sierra snow. In your second poem, I love your beginning “on the edge of forever snow”, your second stanza “a crazy cousin celebration of engagements, and your ending “tend the planted seeds.” I hope you only receive snow instead of rain this weekend. Thank you for sharing your family joy. 🙂
Holy wow, Patricia, your family is F-U-N! I love the line in your acrostic, “Immerse yourselves before I do’s”. *cheers* to the happy coupleS! 🙂
Oh, YAY! I’m excited to win this book! Thank you thank you THANK YOU!
And WHEW! What a wedding whirlwind you’re in — keep having fun!
Your family gathering sounds wonderful, and your poems reflect your joy. As for A Stone is a Story… your review moved me to buy a copy. I am completely enjoying it, and finally will give it to my brother when he becomes a grandpa and wants to share his interest in geology.
Patricia, this sounds so wonderful! I especially love encircled in Sierra snow…Have fun!
Oh I love those aunts and uncles encircling.