The Wedding

Mr. H's cousin got married this weekend....for the first time.....at age 50!

It was a different experience on so many levels. It's been a long time since I went to anything but a Baptist wedding. We are Baptist and most of the recent weddings we've attended were for (grown) children of our church family. Cousin's wedding was at Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs. The very first difference was that the officiating clergy was a lady. I don't have a problem with that, it was just a culture shock.

She addressed the congregation with the "Love Chapter," 1 Corinthians 13. There are 3 kinds of love mentioned: brotherly, romantic, and agape (all encompassing, unconditional love). I loved the point she made. Sometimes we don't feel that friendship love for our spouse. Sometimes we don't feel that romantic love for our spouse, either. But with God, we are bringing our best self to that marriage. So we are able to bring, with God's help, that agape love to our relationship even when we don't feel like it. I had never heard it put that way before.

After the public part of the ceremony, the pastor leaned forward and spoke quietly to the bride and groom. They gave their vows to each other in that same quiet, private way. I really liked that.

While the quiet part of the ceremony was going on, I watched the rest of the wedding party. As you would expect for a couple on the other side of age 40, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were older, too. There was gray hair at the front of the church! I think the pastor and her assistant were probably younger than anyone in the wedding party except the flower girl and ring bearer.

The reception completed the culture shocking day. Being Baptist, and most wedding receptions I've attended lately having been in the Fellowship Hall at the church, I am not accustomed to there being an open bar for the event. I was trying to get L something to drink, so I got in a line. The gentleman behind the counter said to the man in front of us that he only had beer. I got in the other line and that person only did mixed drinks. It turns out that beerman actually did anything in a can, so I got back in his line and L got her Sprite.

It was a fun occasion all around. My favorite moment was when a young lady came around to our table at the reception trying to light the little candles. There was a book of matches (maroon with the couple's name and date of the wedding) on the table. She tore one out and tried to light it. She repeated with 3 additional matches and still couldn't light one. A relative (younger than me) that I don't know very well tried to show her how to fold the cover back and pull the match through the two surfaces. But then the match went out within seconds, before she could touch it to the candle. She gave up and turned to walk away. Mr. H's aunt was sitting at the table with us. She is probably 80 and had a stroke last year. She stood up, rolled her eyes at that young lady's back and proceeded to light 4 candles with a single paper match. The expression on Aunt's face was priceless!! We were rolling!

One cousin came from Texas just because it WAS NOT a funeral. He said that funerals were just about the only time we got to see each other any more and this trip was worth it because it was not. Amen.