Ashley Lucas impressed me in the very first sentence of the very first email she ever wrote.
It was back in February, when we were being pummeled by one of the biggest blizzards of the century, that I got a note from her. "I got your name from the Newseum where you did Anne's wedding. In a complete coincidence, I was the nurse who took care of Anne while she was in the ICU, and recognized her. I remember her and her fiance being the most wonderful people, as well as her parents."
Like so many of my bride's, Ashley came to be through a referral, the Newseum, though I had no idea that she would have recognized one of my other brides on that site. That's the way things seem to go in my life. That she would have remembered Anne (I've changed her name here) and her then-fiance as "wonderful people," amidst the craziness of the Intensive Care Unit, was a good sign. That she remembered Anne's parents at all was extra credit. And not the least bit surprising.
Why? Because Ashley has a mom, Suzanne Lucas, who is larger than life. And the two of them together, with those damned Texas accents that make you grin from ear to ear, could probably make a case to be the 51st state.
I spoke to Suzanne not five minutes ago and as usual she had me laughing within seconds. "Suzanne," I said, "I'm about to put up the blog of your daughter's wedding and I should tell you that she looks amazingly beautiful."
"She got that from me, of course," came the response, accompanied by a wonderful Lone Star chuckle.
