...and no, I have absolutely no idea how the top of that rock got all charred. The weekend started Wednesday night with the opening screening of the new Star Wars. Not the kind of thing I would normally do, but a friend had tickets and I didn't have to get up the next morning. My intent here is not to post a movie review, but let me just say that while there were some good moments, the movie as a whole made me cringe. I slept in to make up for being awake until 4am and then stopped by Capitol Hill on my way to airport to take my favorite girl out to lunch. It was an east texas day in Seattle, warm and sunny when we walked the couple blocks from Lindsey's office to the teriyaki place but pouring as we walked back. The sun was out again by the time I traded Lindsey coats--I had let her wear mine on our little stroll in the rain, since it had a hood--and walked back to my car. My flight to Chicago got in around 10:30pm. I picked up my rental car and began my overnight journey to Wayland, IA, around 11. I managed the drive pretty well, despite the hour. It was actually quite nostalgic, taking me back to those 40-hour-straight runs back to school. There is always so much anticipation for the reunion with old friends at the end that the miles and hours in the car just fly past. I found Wayland (not large enough to be on the map) at 3am, but it took me another hour to figure out where Jenelle farm was. Chris had given me very good directions from the church, which would have been extremely helpful, had I known where the church was. I eventually stumbled across some drunk high-school kids and asked if they knew how to find this church. They thought it was rather strange that I was looking for a church at 4 in the morning, and made mention of this fact several times as they argued over whether to have me go east and then turn north, or to start out going north and then turn east. In retrospect, I should have just asked them to tell me how to get to Jenelle's. Everyone knows where everyone else lives in a town that size. Friday began at 7am. I had pulled into the driveway and laid back my seat to sleep in the car, not wanting to wake everyone up to announce my arrival. I was tired enough that I had no problem sleeping in the car, but the sound of the cows excitedly approaching the feed trough was enough to pull me out of my slumber. I went inside to find Jenelle making lemon-poppyseed bread for breakfast. Chris came in a short time later. Old friends began waking up or arriving in a procession that continued throughout the morning. By lunch time we were all headed down to Mt. Pleasant, a slightly larger town about fifteen minutes south of Wayland. There are some things you would never expect to see in a town that consisted entirely of the buildings along the perimeter of a one-block park that doubled as "downtown." Yet there it was next to the little cafe where we were planning to get lunch--an asian grocery store. Heather (Andrews), Linda, Sol, and I spent some time strolling around this intriguing little shop as we waited for some of our party, who apparently were not quite ready to leave Jenelle's when the rest of us headed off to Mt. Pleasant. During lunch I had the pleasure sharing a table with Chris, his sisters, and his two beautiful little nieces. I had met Lindsey, Chris' younger sister, when she came to visit Chris while we were in school. It was fun talking with her; she shares more than just a name with my Lindsey, and I got to hear about the social justice work she is doing in Open Doors advocacy office. I also got to meet, for the first time, Chris' older sister Carli and her daughters, Isabella and Selah. I'm not sure the exact ages of the girls but they would be aptly described by the words toddler and infant. Isabella is just learning to speak, and though she was rather shy in front of all the new people, we did get to hear a bit of both her English and her Spanish. The time between lunch and the rehersal was pretty much consumed at the tux shop. The girls in the wedding party left lunch a little a head of the guys to pick up Jenelle's dress and do whatever else girls do on the afternoon before a wedding. The guys tried on their outfits and got them marked up for necessary alterations. And by the time we got out of there, we were exceeding the speed limit by 30 or so mph in order to get Chris to the church as close to on time as possible. Not much to say about the rehersal or the rehersal dinner. If you've ever been involved in a wedding, you know how this works. After dinner, however, Chris had an interesting little surprise planned for his bride and her friends. While Chris' entourage retreated to the kitchen, his dad began explaining the Panamanian tradition of the men in the wedding party preparing a dish from their native culture for the ladies in the wedding party. The guys returned shortly, and Chris explained that they would be offering up a fare that was blend of the cooking styles of Panama and Texas that he liked to call Panatex. The guys then proceeded to place several hideous concoctions in front of the girls; each dish was unique, but they contained such lovely ingredients as baby food, spam, and marshmallows. A couple of things that were added to every dish at the end were Tapito brand hot sauce and a pinch of something out of a Copehagen tin. The girls were extremely good sports, each taking a bite of at least one dish. Following the foray into Panatex cuisine, we all returned to Jenelle's. Upon entering the driveway, we discovered the fate of Chris' underwear, all of which had mysteriously disappeared while he had been doing his laundry that morning. Waving in the breeze from atop the windmill was a chain of knotted together boxer-briefs. Chris ascended the ladder amid jokes about what the morning headlines would read if he fell and rescued his wayward undergarments. When he returned to we bid the ladies good evening and loaded up the car for Chris' final night with the guys.
So, I intended to finish this at some point, but it's been long enough. I attempted adding to it today, but blogger ate everything that I tacked on, and I'm a little fed up now. Here is the abbreviated version of my trip to Chris and Jenelle's wedding. Congratulations and best wishes to them on their one-plus month of marriage and their future together.
posted by Tom 10:28 AM
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Quote of the week
Actually, I've never kissed a boy either. -Chris Schwan
Hopefully there will be time to post more stories from the wedding soon.
posted by Tom 11:18 PM
It starts with the shoe. Maybe the next day it's a t-shirt or a sock. You don't know if the washing machine ate it, or your roommate borrowed it a month ago and forgot that it was yours. All you know is that by the end of the week, you're walking to class naked because you don't have any clothes left.
