Wedding, Part the First

As promised, here is a chronicle of the weekend events, mostly focused on the wedding.

Saturday was the wedding of James, whom I like very much, and Sharon, whom I do not know and therefore cannot honestly claim to like, although I'm sure I would like her if I did know her. I was very happy for the groom and bride, but also happy for me, as I had a chance to bless people and have much fun, serving as a hostess for several of the men involved with the wedding. They were around for three nights, and they kept multiplying!

It started on Thursday night, when Kakak Rev Graf Spee and Mike Davis arrived. Friday night, we added Lemming-Will and K-W, and Saturday, post-wedding, Matt Herchenroeder and Ted Jager. All the guys were in the wedding in some capacity: Will was best man, the others were groomsmen, except for the Reverend GS, who offered scripture during the ceremony. It was interesting, since I've known GS my whole life, know Will and Kevin pretty well, Mike and Matt slightly, and Ted not at all. For my part, I was just a dull and ordinary guest, so I had fun most of the weekend, not having to wear a tux or military dress uniform. That was significant, because it was HOT. I hear you ask, "How hot was it?" It was so hot that the plastic cup in my car melted on Saturday afternoon. I kid you not. Exhibit A. On the left is a normal Starbucks cup; on the right is the Starbucks cup that was in my cupholder in my car.



Okay, well, anyway, the wedding was fairly standard, as weddings go. I had fun playing "spot the homeschooler" (yes, there were some women in jumpers), "spot the missionary" (I'm allowed to play that one, and yes, they were wearing cotton print short-sleeved button-up shirts, which is perfectly respectable formal attire in Africa and Asia), and my personal favorite, "spot the homeschooling missionary" (yes, I am evil, but what else is new?). I got to sit with Jessy Wall and Joi Weaver (who grinned and whispered, when I sat down in the pew, "Welcome to the Buffy row!"), and all three of us were proper hymn-singers, in that we sang the correct Ebenezer line in the congregational hymn, "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing". Heehee! Anyway, there was a pronounced Lord of the Rings theme, which isn't heretical or anything, but I find it hard to accept as wedding material, even if we are in the thoroughly modern 21st century. Dear Dr. Sanders was one of the officiants, and I kind of think he doesn't like me, since he looked awkward and sort of muttered "Hi" when he saw me at the reception, but I'd rather think that he was merely stricken dumb with envy, having to wear long sleeves while I was cool and comfortable in my dressily flower-printed racerback tank top. But I digress. Jim and Sharon were properly married, and that is the important thing. It was truly sweet and lovely.

I saw some people I hadn't seen for a while, including Dustin and Katie Guenther, who have just passed their anniversary of their first year of marriage (I went to their wedding last summer), and Rebecca Carroll, who was one of the bridesmaids, and is to be commended for escaping from Visalia and getting a good job in Southern California.