A Wedding
Sean and Mari's wedding was sweet and simple. In many ways, it reminded me of my own wedding.
-They asked a friend to perform the ceremony (as did we). In their case, Sean asked his step-dad (my Uncle Charley) to do it. Charley went online and paid someone $30 to ordain him so that he could legally perform the ceremony.
-Mari had a very hands off approach to the planning (as did I). She traded her scrapbooking skills for her friend's wedding planning skills and left almost every decision up to her friend, focusing only on the things she cared about.
-It was a small ceremony of only family and close friends (who all managed to be in the wedding party).
A couple of lowlights:
1. I broke the bride and groom's toasting glasses while trying to clean them. In a strange, surreal moment, the glass tapped against the faucet and shattered. It tapped ever-so-lightly, but the glass couldn't handle it. It was thin, cheap glass from China (I know this because of the Made In China sticker plastered to the bottom of the glass). I used to have drinking glasses made of that thin, cheap glass. We had a set of eight, and they lasted a measly 4 months before they'd all been broken. I don't say this to excuse myself of the fault of breaking the glass, I only intend to say that it wouldn't have happened if it'd been crystal or even better quality glass. The thing that made this truly weird was that my mother came to me later to urge me to apologize to Mari -- as if I wouldn't. Then, later in the day, she came to urge me to apologize to Sean as well, telling me that they'd special-ordered these glasses and that they'd originally arrived broken and had to be hurriedly replaced. When I did get around to apologizing to Mari later in the evening at the reception (the first free moment I could have with her that day), she had no idea what I was talking about. She hadn't planned her wedding. She didn't care about the toasting glasses.
2. My grandmother constantly rebuked Samuel, slapping him and making him cry when he touched things in her non-baby-proofed house she didn't want him to touch. First off, half the things were things he should have been allowed to touch. They wouldn't harm him; he wouldn't harm them. So, why not let him explore just a bit? But, even given that it's her home and she makes the rules, she still set about slapping him or harshly reprimanding him, breaking his sweet little heart. Samuel's an incredibly mellow baby -- not given to crying at all. He's so sweet and warm-hearted. He's also very sensitive. Several times this weekend when people shouted near him or were especially abrupt, he burst into tears. It made me aware of just how peaceful and even-keeled our home is. We don't raise our voices to him or near him, and we certainly don't slap him when he gets into off-limit objects. He's not even a year old yet, folks!!! How can he possibly know he's doing something wrong? Thinking on this reminded me that all of us grandkids were terrified of my grandmother when we were young. No wonder. But I also recognized the same tendency in myself; I'm too harsh with my kids. May the Lord help me overcome that soon!
-They asked a friend to perform the ceremony (as did we). In their case, Sean asked his step-dad (my Uncle Charley) to do it. Charley went online and paid someone $30 to ordain him so that he could legally perform the ceremony.
-Mari had a very hands off approach to the planning (as did I). She traded her scrapbooking skills for her friend's wedding planning skills and left almost every decision up to her friend, focusing only on the things she cared about.
-It was a small ceremony of only family and close friends (who all managed to be in the wedding party).
A couple of lowlights:
1. I broke the bride and groom's toasting glasses while trying to clean them. In a strange, surreal moment, the glass tapped against the faucet and shattered. It tapped ever-so-lightly, but the glass couldn't handle it. It was thin, cheap glass from China (I know this because of the Made In China sticker plastered to the bottom of the glass). I used to have drinking glasses made of that thin, cheap glass. We had a set of eight, and they lasted a measly 4 months before they'd all been broken. I don't say this to excuse myself of the fault of breaking the glass, I only intend to say that it wouldn't have happened if it'd been crystal or even better quality glass. The thing that made this truly weird was that my mother came to me later to urge me to apologize to Mari -- as if I wouldn't. Then, later in the day, she came to urge me to apologize to Sean as well, telling me that they'd special-ordered these glasses and that they'd originally arrived broken and had to be hurriedly replaced. When I did get around to apologizing to Mari later in the evening at the reception (the first free moment I could have with her that day), she had no idea what I was talking about. She hadn't planned her wedding. She didn't care about the toasting glasses.
2. My grandmother constantly rebuked Samuel, slapping him and making him cry when he touched things in her non-baby-proofed house she didn't want him to touch. First off, half the things were things he should have been allowed to touch. They wouldn't harm him; he wouldn't harm them. So, why not let him explore just a bit? But, even given that it's her home and she makes the rules, she still set about slapping him or harshly reprimanding him, breaking his sweet little heart. Samuel's an incredibly mellow baby -- not given to crying at all. He's so sweet and warm-hearted. He's also very sensitive. Several times this weekend when people shouted near him or were especially abrupt, he burst into tears. It made me aware of just how peaceful and even-keeled our home is. We don't raise our voices to him or near him, and we certainly don't slap him when he gets into off-limit objects. He's not even a year old yet, folks!!! How can he possibly know he's doing something wrong? Thinking on this reminded me that all of us grandkids were terrified of my grandmother when we were young. No wonder. But I also recognized the same tendency in myself; I'm too harsh with my kids. May the Lord help me overcome that soon!