Yes, this blog entry is long overdue, and although it is really about ONE very special and lovely Litt lady, it really is about all of them, because it wouldn’t have been what it was without the 3 Litt ladies, Barri, Tracy, and Jamie. True – as I sit and type this, just writing their names brings tears to my eyes, because I am so in love with these girls.
My Barri story is truly amazing. In 2004, back in another lifetime, when my days were spent recruiting CPA’s and college students (blech), I was knee deep in fall recruitment on a tour of Florida’s top campuses, namely, the #1 Accounting school in the state, UF. (Go Gators!)
The day was a parade of one Accounting student after another, and halfway through the day, this tall, beautiful, amazing young woman walks up to me and we start to chat, and the rest, we shall say, was history. Barri came by to discuss her future career, caught between the top echilon pressure of whether to go Big 4 or choose quality of life, for her first step into career world. I know we stood there and talked for hours, but remember little else. The world went away, and Barri and I knew we had just established a friendship that would take us years into the future, we just didn’t know how.
When I recruited her (heavily) for an internship for my firm (which she so politely turned down – to hit the big city lights of Big 4 world), she asked me if her sister, Tracy, could come along for the interview. (I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone else’s sister on an interview). Enter – Tracy. Tracy had a little girl named Taylor, and we all stood out there on the sidewalk, even Taylor!
As time went on, Barri of course went to work for Big 4, and her career path was on its way, and who knew – that a few years later, I would be a Cantor! It didn’t seem we had much opportunity for mentoring with the way our lives were going – till Barri found Dan.
She called me one day – just to tell me she met a boy, and she was in love, and when he asked her to marry him – she emailed me right away. Our lives were going to cross paths again, in the most wonderful way!
Several years ago, Barri lost her Mom. Her sister, Tracy and I were both in the same fields, and Tracy and Jamie are older than Barri. The last thing Barri needed was a mother-figure, she already had 2 older, doting sisters, but I loved Barri – and Tracy, in a way that was so much more than friends. I still to this day can’t describe it – but I feel like one of my jobs in life, was to be in the Litt ladies’ lives – and so here I am – to stay.
November 21, 2009, Barri walked down the aisle at the Embassy Suites Oceanfront pavilion, in one of the most beautiful wedding ceremonies I’ve ever seen. Everything this was perfect. Especially Dan. If you told me to go out into the world, and pick the absolutely BEST man for Barri, I couldn’t have done a better job. They are one body, one soul. I fell in love with Dan, watching him love Barri. I adore the both of them, and I know she is in the best hands, ever.
The wedding party was incredible – not your every day wedding reception, Tracy and Jamie both sang a song for Barri, that was so beautiful, and then ALL the Litt girls and Barri’s girls got up and rocked with the band. The funniest was when Dan and his boys got up, and gave it a go. It was quite a battle of the boy – and girl bands!
But words cannot describe my pride and joy for being asked to stand in my very special spot – as the person responsible for joining Dan and Barri in marriage, nor will I ever forget the moment that Barri – my favorite little Litt lady – became…
…..Mrs. Barri White!
Dan, Barri, Tracy, and Jamie – I love you!
Deb
PS: PS: Want to create your own “dream come true wedding”? Contact Cantor Debbi today to see how you can co-create the event of your dreams.
