A week ago Saturday B's uncle got married. It was the sweetest wedding that I've ever been to. See, Uncle J lost his wife to ALS several years ago. I was only able to meet Aunt B once at a family reunion, but it only took that one time to realize what an amazing woman she was. She also made the yummiest salsa. She'd come up with her own recipe, found someone to produce it and bottle it (after it got popular and she couldn't keep up with it), and she had herself a little business. She was loved deeply by her children, grandchildren, Uncle J's many many brothers and sisters, and their kids. She is missed to this day!
But...life must go on. And it did. Uncle J met the sweetest woman (HER daughter introduced them!), and a little romance started. She's also a widow, and Uncle J and her make a great couple.
As we drove up to the church that morning, it was overcast and a lot cooler than it had been in months. But, that wasn't the strange part. The parking lot of this little church was packed! And there was a line of people that stretched all the way across the lot. I had never seen so many people at a wedding before. We parked the car (on the grass b/c there weren't any spots open) and started to make our way to the end of the line. We had driven out to the little town west of Wichita with B's brother and his wife, so the four of us kept looking at each other wondering why there was this big line. We didn't recognize anyone in line, so we just took our places quietly. A few minutes later, my FIL came out and found us and told us to follow him. Oh man, you should have seen the looks we got as we were pulled out of line and walked straight for the side door and into the church! I wanted to turn around and yell to everyone that we were family, we weren't REALLY cutting in line.
Well, the line turned out to be for 2 reasons. The sanctuary was packed with people...the cry room was packed with people...and the fellowship hall was packed with people. And they were all trying to sign the guest book before they fought for space to stand or squat or whatever they were going to do. We took our seats in the second row on the groom's side, and I'm not kidding you that there were no less than 12 people in the pew we were sitting in. And even though it was 60 degrees outside, it had to have been almost 90 inside!
B and I got the best seats, right on the aisle where we could see everything. Because there were so many people there and they were trying to find seats or something for everyone, the ceremony started a few minutes late. But, when the bride walked down the aisle, and I saw the tears well up in Uncle J's eyes, it was all worth it. The bride and groom only had eyes for each other. She was walked down the aisle by her son, and she wore the most amazing red gown. She was stunning! The attendants were the bride and groom's children, and they were married by Uncle J's son-in-law.
Uncle J sang 3 songs to his new bride throughout the ceremony, and I don't think there were many dry eyes in the place. There was time given for a silent prayer for Uncle J and his bride's first spouses. In fact, Aunt B's sister was there, as well as the bride's former FIL. It was very touching, and I'm sure it meant a lot to the kids (who aren't really kids) to pay tribute to their parents.
The new couple dismissed each row at the end of the ceremony, so we got to hug and congratulate them right away. Of course, this took a LONG time since there were so many people there. The reception hall was packed, but we took some time to make the rounds and visit with B's cousins for a bit. By then, B and his brother were chomping at the bit because next on the agenda was heading back to town for a gun show...you can only ask those guys to hang out at a wedding for so long.
After lunch in a greasy spoon, but SO yummy diner, we headed back to town. The boys ran inside to change out of their wedding clothes and then ran right back out to head to the gun show. SIL and I left at a much calmer pace in search of some retail therapy.
We all headed out to the 'Rents house for dinner that night, where I witnessed the following...
See, Kansas doesn't have a waiting period to purchase a gun (you do have to pass a background check, so that's good), so B took full advantage of it. He'd been wanting a handgun for a while (he says for home protection, which kinda scares me, but I can't win every battle), so for his birthday this year, he got his wish. His brother is a big gun fan, so I know those boys had fun together. Now, B wants to take the conceal and carry class, so he can pack heat. Oh boy!
To end on a lighthearted note, here are my darling nieces hanging out with the boys and their guns in the basement.
By the way, the "gun" on the floor behind the girls is a TOY gun, not one of the uncle's guns just thrown around haphazardly.
5 comments:
so there you are! I was beginning to get worried about you; not having had an update for a week and not getting any comments (I answered your comment on my blog like this too; then thought to come check out if you had posted). The wedding sounds sweet. We just went to one this past w/e for my cousin; both her and her now husband had very bad first marriages so it was also very sweet and tear jerking!
What a great wedding story! Love it. I don't know a single Kansas boy that would choose a wedding over a gun show! lol
About eating out on a holiday...two words...Chinese Food. They don't celebrate the same holidays and that has become one of our holiday favorites. We like it better than turkey. ;)
My dad wanted to give me a gun for a wedding gift. I told him no, because I didn't know (or care, really) about the gun laws in OK vs. NM.
I wouldn't mind having a gun around now. I am more afraid that I would use it than I am about it being taken from me. And I would be teaching the kids about them like dad taught me.
That was the sweetest wedding story! Thanks for sharing!
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