The Wedding

Whew, what a weekend. From the time I got out of work Friday afternoon until I finally gave into sleep Saturday night / Sunday morning there was not an empty moment. Everything went well, although there were a couple bumps along the way and in the end I think (although I’m slightly biased) that it was without a doubt the best, most enjoyable wedding I’ve ever been to……I’m gonna try and recap everything I can remember, but I’m sure I’ll forget some things, bear with me here while I try and scribe all this down.

I left work right at 3:00pm Friday and after a quick stop at the credit union for money I headed home for a quick shower, picked up Chris and the dogs, loaded up some incidentals and started to head out of town. Then I realized I had no socks with me so I made a quick stop at Family Dollar so that I wouldn’t offend anyone’s sensibilities at the wedding by having bare ankles.

Since Labor day the D.O.T. has been working on the bridge, which in turn creates massive traffic jams, particularly during rush hours and Friday afternoons. I don’t know why they don’t work on it at night and keep it open during the day but that’s a rant for another time. The fact of the matter was on this Friday afternoon Northbound traffic was backed up from the bridge to out past Hayes street, a distance of 2+ miles and it wasn’t moving.

After stopping to get gas at Meijers I decided that I’d head out to Eastmanville, go over the river there, cut back to Maple Island and head north. I figured that at least that way I’d be able to keep moving and get to the Creek eventually, something I couldn’t guarantee if I was stuck in a 2 mile long line of traffic jam. After we made the bridge crossing and were headed North we ran into little pockets of rain along the way. Nothing major, but enough for windshield wipers. We finally made it to the campsite just about 6:00pm. The sidetrip had added about a half hour to the drive, but after finding out that there were still folks not yet there cuz of the road construction mess we were happy with the decision to take the alternate route.

It was almost dark before we had everyone there to do the rehearsal. I amused myself until then by wandering around, shooting pics of the lake area in the waning light. We ran thru the whole wedding process twice. My job was pretty easy, just get Ri from the top of the hill to the bottom without either of us falling on our faces. After the second run thru was complete we decided it was time for the Rehearsal dinner. Everyone headed for the Condo Association building for a good meal of lasagna and all the fixings. By the time that everyone had ate their fill it was almost 10:00pm and time to head back to camp with Ri as our guest of honor for the evening.

The big day arrived and the first thing we all did, except Ri who had to stay at the trailer, was to head for the lodge and get breakfast. Gigi and Tony, who were the Mistress and Master of ceremony for the day, were at our campsite before I had even crawled out of bed. Wanda had her computer with her and all of a sudden as I’m waking up and Ri is still mostly asleep the old 60’s tune by the Chapels “Going to the Chapel” (“Going to get marrrieeedd”) burst forth from the speakers along with Gigi and Wanda singing to Ri at full volume. It was a cool moment. Later in the day we found out that folks down the road quite a ways heard the early morning serenade.

By the time we were done eating it was close to 10:00am and time to get Ri and her maids of honor to the Condo Building to get their hair done up pretty. Once that was taken care of I wandered over to the Fetts place to see what was happening there. To say things were a bit unorganized at that point would be as politically correct as I can possibly be, so without any direction I made the executive decision to start putting out the chairs. There were people coming and they’d need somewhere to sit. Somewhere towards the end of that task the wife showed up with an errand for me and the bro-in-law to handle so we jumped in his SUV and headed into town.

By the time we got back from town it was almost 1:00pm and getting dangerously close to the appointed hour. While we were gone on our mission my folks had arrived so I went up to their rented cabin to say hi. My mother was sick so they had already made up their minds that they weren’t staying overnight as planned. After a couple minutes with them I took off to see what was next on the agenda. After a bit of running around I found myself at the Fett’s trailer with tuxedo in hand, looking for a place to try and hang all that hardware on my body. Adam came in to get ready also and I had to enlist his help to get all the fancy buttons and cufflinks attached. I think we were both a bit stressed at that point although probably for different reasons.

As the final minutes ticked down to 3:00pm the wedding party, sans myself and the bride, who’d just arrived, all assembled out by the Kahuna. I paced from the trailer to the Kahuna and back again, noticing that there was a good turnout for the festivities and that Adam was dealing with the emotional aspects of the whole affair. Wanda was trying to help him catch his breath and regain his composure. And then…..it was time.

Because I was busy in the back I’m not entirely sure of the order, who went down the steps first, but once the minister, the groom, the best men, the bridesmaids and the kids all made it to the bottom it was Ri’s turn to be escorted down the steps to where Adam was waiting for her. Ri looked absolutely beautiful in her dress and yes, I’m completely biased, but I still don’t think anyone that day would’ve argued with me. We came past the Kahuna and headed down the steps. I tried to focus on breathing and not tripping over my own feet. I had my baby girl on my arm and was trying hard to keep it together. We finally made it to the bottom and stood there, side by side, across from Adam. It took awhile for the minister to get to the point where he asked….”who gives this woman to be married?” to which I said, as best I could, “her mother and I”. At that point my work was done and I went over and sat down next to my wife to watch the rest of the ceremony.

It had been cool and overcast all day, but as the minister announced the new couple and they started walking down the aisle, a couple rays of sunshine broke thru the clouds. It was cool. It took awhile to get everyone escorted out of their chairs, row by row, but once that was complete the bride and groom headed for Wanda’s mustang, with the top down and with your s truly doing the chauffeuring. We rode around the campgrounds for alittle while, beeping the horn whenever we saw life and eventually made our way back to the bottom of the hill.

At that point it was time for the obligatory post wedding photographs. Gigi was taking care of the bulk of that work while I was off talking with various folks until I got called upon to join in the lineup and smile. From then until the end of the photo shoot I was either in the shot or taking shots…….by the time we had assembled every conceivable combination of participants and were done taking pics the skies had cleared up, the sky was a beautiful blue and it was time to head to the lodge for dinner and dancing.

When we got up to the lodge I was immediately impressed with the turnout. The place was packed with folks who'd came way out into the middle of God's country to help Ri and Adam celebrate their speical day. It wasn't long after their arrival was announced that we were in line, with plate in hand, loading up on the good food that had been prepared. It took the next hour or so to get everyone thru the line and fed. I would guess there was close to a 140 people there, certainly one of the bigger gatherings the lodge has seen in quite some time I'd bet.

After the dinner hour was over our tables up front were removed to make room for some dancing. Adam's dad sprinkled happy feet powder all over the floor and the music commenced. From that point until a bit past 10:30pm the joint was a jumpin'. All those traditional wedding rites were performed from Ri Throwing her bouquet to the girls to Adam going after the garter and tossing it out to the boys standing at the far end of the room. One of the more emotional moments, for me at least, was the Dad and Daughter dance. I had to bite my lip a couple times to stay focused. We danced to a tune sung by Leanne Womack called "I Hope You Dance". Because I think it's a beautiful tune and because the lyrics mean quite a bit to me I'm taking the space to write 'em down here.

I HOPE YOU DANCE

I hope you never lose you sense of wonder,

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,

May you never take one single breath for granted,

GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',

Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',

Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,

When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance. I hope you dance....I hope you dance. I hope you dance....I hope you dance..

(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)

Surfing around on the net tonight I found this quote by the guy responsible for "I Hope You Dance". Seems like words to live by for me so I thought I'd share these words too......

"If you can figure out a way to keep the energy and gumption and fire alive, you'll always stay young. And where there's youth, there's hope... where there's hope, there's wonder... where there's wonder, there's faith... where there's faith, there's chance... where's there chance, there's love ...where there's love, there's music... and dancing. So in my heart of hearts, I hope you dance."

The rest of the evening was pretty much a loud, colorful blur of activity. I did my fair share of dancing, wandered around taking pics and generally had a good time seeing that everyone in attendance was having a good time. All of a sudden it was 10:30 and the last tune was fading away. There was a bonfire at the Fett's site so after some milling around and cleaning up we headed over there. There was quite a crowd around the fire and we fit in best we could. The bride and groom stopped by for a quick hi and goodbye before heading off to Ludington for the night. One of the more poignant moments for me was standing there, among a crowd of people, watching them get in the car and take off down the road. I watched the taillights disappear down the road, into the woods and out of sight. I had one of those moments then when a boatload of memories from the last 18 years came rushing up on me. I had to sit down for a bit and regain my composure.

It wasn't long after that, that I had to go searching for the wife who'd celebrated just a tad bit too much and wasn't feeling too hot. Once I'd located her I decided it was time to call it a day and we headed back to our campsite. She crawled into bed as soon as we got there, Chris headed for the van to sleep for the night and I decided it'd be a shame to waste the mostly full moon so I got a fire going, made a big ole cup of hot chocolate and sat there with my 4-legged buddies, comtemplating my life up to this point. It took a couple hours to wind down enough to go to bed so it was probably close to 3:00am before I finally closed my eyes.

Sunday morning Ri and Adam were coming back out to the Condo Building for a light breakfast and to open their presents. There was a small group in attendance for the event and after eating they proceded to open gifts and cards for the next hour or so. They made quite a haul and won't have trouble financing a good time on their honeymoon. After the breakfast we headed back to camp. Around noon they stopped by to say goodbye before heading out for Cincinnati, where they were gonna spend a couple days seeing the sights before heading to Kentucky to do the same thing there...........we hung around camp most of the afternoon, cleaning up debris from the last week. I spent a while raking while Wanda took a nap and then about 5:00pm we decided to head for home. We shut down the lights and water, locked up the Amish Outhouse and camper, loaded up the dogs and headed for home.

.....and that's pretty much that. I think the wedding was an unqualified sucess. Everyone there seemed to be having a great time. The food was excellent, the DJ was considerably above average and the ambiance of the lodge and the outdoor setting made it a wedding not to be outdone. I hope that Ri and Adam have some good memories from the weekend to carry with them for the rest of their lives and I wish them all the best. they're two great kids with their lives stretched out before them. I hope they live them to their fullest.

It's Wednesday today and the kids should be down in Kentucky today, touring Mamouth Cave, among other things. The weather here the last several days has been very wet and chilly, very fall-like and it just feels like the party is over for this year. Hopefully there's still some warm weather ahead, but it won't be long now before the fall color starts to appear. The one upbeat point about that is this year we have our own little campsite to enjoy the transition from summer to winter and I plan to soak up as much of the color as I can before it's time to hunker down and start making plans for the next warm season.

That's enough out of me for awhile.

TC