Jason and Katya's Wedding
Glory to Jesus Christ!
Today was a good day. The wedding was simple yet beautiful, Njugu and I managed to keep Jason's crown over his head the whole time, and I felt like I got a lot of time with them before they left, which I'm really thankful for. I'm the only one left of the original three (later expanded to four) students at Holy Ascension :-(. Michael moved to New England, Katya will be moving to Wisconsin (or Minnesota?), and Andy is too far to come every Sunday.
To overview the day itself, we started with the Sunday Liturgy (which I served at - first time in a month or more I think) and then moved into a nice, light brunch, both of which were attended almost solely by "nash" as the East Coasters would call 'em :-) ("ours" - Orthodox from our parish). After that I took a quick nap (I only got 5 hours of sleep 'cause of the party and randomly waking up at 7:30am (?) instead of after 8am like I'd planned) and changed into my kilt, which looked better than I'd thought it would :-). (Nice cooling action too - it was a humid day.) Then we had the wedding, which was beautiful. So lovely - so meaningful too. (Thank God for non performance-oriented services.)
After the wedding came the pictures (taken by Sunshine, the very aptly named, adroit, and pleasant photographer) and the reception catered by Kalamazoo's Shawarma King, which was divine. I have NEVER had lamb that tasted so good or that was so tender. Good wines too - Katya and Jason picked the merlot/mablec Chilean red that the commune recommended them last week (or the week before?). Everything was lovely, and we kept up the Russian end of things (despite the very tragic lack of vodka) with the "gorka." (Something you're to shout at weddings - it's literally "bitter" and is a cue for the groom and bride to make out to sweeten the bitterness of the endings they're experiencing :-).)
At some point I asked the time and it'd gone from being 2pm (the time of the wedding) to after 5pm. I ended up getting back to Spring Arbor around 7 or 7:30pm. It was just such a good, long day. I'll really miss Katya and Jason a whole lot :-( (more than I'd realized before today). May God grant them many, many years together though - I'd rather they have the best elsewhere than hang around here just so I don't get lonely :-).
I hope you're all well! Forgive me for not keeping in better touch - I hope these posts help ameliorate that somewhat.
Today was a good day. The wedding was simple yet beautiful, Njugu and I managed to keep Jason's crown over his head the whole time, and I felt like I got a lot of time with them before they left, which I'm really thankful for. I'm the only one left of the original three (later expanded to four) students at Holy Ascension :-(. Michael moved to New England, Katya will be moving to Wisconsin (or Minnesota?), and Andy is too far to come every Sunday.
To overview the day itself, we started with the Sunday Liturgy (which I served at - first time in a month or more I think) and then moved into a nice, light brunch, both of which were attended almost solely by "nash" as the East Coasters would call 'em :-) ("ours" - Orthodox from our parish). After that I took a quick nap (I only got 5 hours of sleep 'cause of the party and randomly waking up at 7:30am (?) instead of after 8am like I'd planned) and changed into my kilt, which looked better than I'd thought it would :-). (Nice cooling action too - it was a humid day.) Then we had the wedding, which was beautiful. So lovely - so meaningful too. (Thank God for non performance-oriented services.)
After the wedding came the pictures (taken by Sunshine, the very aptly named, adroit, and pleasant photographer) and the reception catered by Kalamazoo's Shawarma King, which was divine. I have NEVER had lamb that tasted so good or that was so tender. Good wines too - Katya and Jason picked the merlot/mablec Chilean red that the commune recommended them last week (or the week before?). Everything was lovely, and we kept up the Russian end of things (despite the very tragic lack of vodka) with the "gorka." (Something you're to shout at weddings - it's literally "bitter" and is a cue for the groom and bride to make out to sweeten the bitterness of the endings they're experiencing :-).)
At some point I asked the time and it'd gone from being 2pm (the time of the wedding) to after 5pm. I ended up getting back to Spring Arbor around 7 or 7:30pm. It was just such a good, long day. I'll really miss Katya and Jason a whole lot :-( (more than I'd realized before today). May God grant them many, many years together though - I'd rather they have the best elsewhere than hang around here just so I don't get lonely :-).
I hope you're all well! Forgive me for not keeping in better touch - I hope these posts help ameliorate that somewhat.