If you see a whole thing - it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But up close a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. - Ursula K. LeGuin

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Family Festivities

Last weekend we headed north, to the City of Sisterly Love, for my sister C's wedding.  As you may (or may not) remember, C and K (her betrothed) had asked me to officiate.  After only a smidgeon of web-based fanfare, I became the Reverend Doctor Brigindo.


Friday afternoon I headed south to pick up Angel.  Unfortunately I did not fully grasp the particulars of Labor Day Weekend traffic on a Friday afternoon and the trip time doubled in length.  It was well worth the stop-and-go because I got quality time with Angel all weekend long.  We've always been a family that travelled together well and road trips are a particular favorite.


In between all the traveling, Angel was picking out a road bike for The Journey of Hope ride that he wants to complete this summer.  Saturday morning was for test riding the bikes and then we all hopped in the car for the 8-hour drive.  Driving with Angel necessitates more food stops than driving with just b.

We reached our destination, checked into our fabulous hotel, and promptly went out for more food. The next morning I walked through the old section of the city snapping photos.


I am not a wedding person but this one was truly perfect.  It took place late Sunday afternoon in a beautiful historic townhouse.  It was a small, intimate affair with around 50 guests.  The bride was stunning in a champagne dress.  It was mostly a homegrown wedding.  The bride's daughter was her Maid of Honor and also arranged the centerpieces.  Our 10 year old niece was one of the bridesmaids, as was the daughter of my sister's good friend.  Our nephew was the ring bearer and K's niece was the flower girl.  K had both his sons standing beside him as Best Men.  One of his son's read a selection from The Odyssey and the other was taking pictures throughout the day.  Both mothers selected and read poems.  In addition to K's son, both my niece's friend and b served as photographers.


As for my role as officiant, I feel I filled it well.  I dressed all in black (black dress with long coat and I even wore heels for the occasion) and read from my iPad.  C & K had given me general guidelines on what to say but left how to say it to my judgement.  I think I hit the mark.


After the ceremony, there was much chatting and catching up.  I spent the evening with my sisters and my grown niece and nephews.  It is amazing to see them all now as adults: still adorable but a lot more sophisticated in both their humor and their thoughts.  The grown nieces and nephews went out bar-hopping afterwards and the rest of us hung out in a hotel room, gossiping and analyzing as we like to do.


The next morning we picked up C's old car that she was donating to Angel and drove back south with Angel following us.  When we finally reached SouthLite, we headed straight to the store for Angel to get his bike properly "fitted."  He drove his bike home in his new old car and b and I went straight to bed.

7 comments:

Catherine said...

You did indeed "hit the mark." You were pitch perfect! Thanks again for doing such a fabulous job and for helping to make our wedding a memorable one. P>S> The title is on the way.

Drax said...

Beautiful.

Joan Kane Nichols said...

You were wonderful. I'd love to get married again just to have you officiate. (Wouldn't that be weird?) And the after-hours analysis was so traditional.

Reena said...

A lovely post for a beautiful day!

Annie said...

Congratulations to your sister! And congratulations to you, for your first wedding!

BrightenedBoy said...

That sounds like a lovely wedding. The smaller affairs are always the nice ones.

Is Angel your brother? A friend or cousin? I'm sorry if it seems I haven't been paying attention. There are just so many personalities and I'm trying to keep track of them all!

Brigindo said...

Angel is my beautiful, smart, funny, generally amazing son who, after 21 years, I still can't get enough of.