Wedding and Stuff
So Rachael got married. That was fun. I don't really have many photos of the actual day since I was kinda doing other stuff, but I'll write this and add the few photos I have.
On Wednesday, I woke up to a very sarcastic text from my mother, "Don't forget to get on a plane today." I was tempted to respond “OH NO!!!” and then turn my phone off... but that would be mean. I made the trek to Heathrow, caught the plane to Toronto, slept at the airport there, then got my flight to Calgary.
Movies watched- round trip:
Jumangi - does Kevin Hart act or just yell? Good adaptation and funny.
Coco - beautiful story, beautiful visuals, beautiful movie. Made me cry
Kingsmen: Golden Circle - Country roads, take me home... WEST VIRGINIA
In Bruges - Insane. Funny and Tragic and Emotional and Disturbing.
Atomic Blonde- great fight scenes, plot's a bit all over the place
Mr. and Mrs. Smith - seemed to be on a spy kick for some reason so this fit the bill
When you live in two places, or count two places as home, it feels like you are reading two books at the same time. You’re aware of the different storylines and characters, but they are separate, and you can only inhabit one narrative at a time. So falling asleep in one and waking up in another, you can make the switch easily, but you have a residual idea of what is happening elsewhere. Wherever you are, there is somewhere you are not.
I was insanely jet lagged so the flurry of a bachelorette party, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and reunions with family from around the continent was like being trapped in a friendly tornado. I finally got to meet Miska, our family’s Bernese mountain dog/ Australian shepherd puppy. She is perfect and I love her. It’s weird to see Kita as the old dog since she was the puppy compared to our 14 year old Salsa, but now she plays the part of a curmudgeon rather well, especially when Miska is chewing on her face or sitting on her.
The wedding day came with the expected amount of chaos, but everything worked out. The other bridesmaids were having their hair and makeup done, and I had some time to kill, so Günter came over and we made a video. I borrowed some of the flowers from the rehearsal dinner, a few meters of the endless supply of tulle that seemed to have grown around our house, and transformed Günter into a beautiful bride. He had originally wanted to be the flower girl but that role went to the little cousins, so we made do. Opa was slightly confused.
Everyone finished getting ready and it was time for Rachael and Chris’ first look. They also had a gallery of onlookers as the rest of the bridal party had their noses pressed to the windows to watch. Chris looked giddy, like a kid at Christmas, and Rachael was already in tears.
Everyone's been to a wedding, not going to describe all that. It was beautiful and sunny and perfect.
At the reception, there were a lot of heartfelt and emotional speeches; dad brought out Rachael’s Mr. Bear, Ryan said some very beautiful things ... and then there was my speech. I had a complete photo slideshow to accompany mine complete with Rachael’s “Chris face” during Skype calls and evidence of her “post-Chris sulk” during their stint of long distance. I also won my bet. Right when they first started dating Rachael Skyped me in a panic. She is a worrier, so while she was excited that they were finally dating she was already seeing the end of the road, either they would get married or break up, and she was stressing about the possibility of breaking up. So I bet her 20 bucks they would get married and I finally got to collect. Rachael made it all cute by saying, “best twenty bucks I ever spent.”
I don’t think a wedding is legally binding unless the couple plays the shoe game. The table of Chris and Rachael’s UCM friends was hilarious. Every time Chris took a large bite of food they would start clinking their glasses to make him and Rachael kiss so he’d have to quickly choke down his food. Steven and I, who have both worked at numerous weddings, had given Rachael a ‘black list’ of songs that were the standard ‘white people wedding’ playlist and asked her to avoid them. I’m pretty sure she handed that list to the DJ and told him to play every one. The party continued and the couple was given a sparkler send-off, with only one bridesmaid being set slightly on fire.
The day after the wedding we had the Harms side of the family over for lunch. In anticipation for the coming young cousins, mom has set out a playmobile zoo, a massive brio train set, and the nerf gun armoury, while all breakable things were put under lock and key. The house was a chaotic jumble of relatives and friends and it was great to catch up with everyone.
On Monday, We were wanting to go on a hike around Morraine Lake, but now Park Canada makes you take a bus there and we had missed it. So instead, mom, dad, Brad, Cheryl and I hiked up to Lake Agnes, above Lake Louise.
Closing this book for now.