Wedding Weekend in Albany

A good friend, one of the group that laughs, got married a few weeks ago. It was one of the loveliest times of my life. I'll tell you why. Think of each paragraph as part of a list.

The party began while I was still at my day job in Pennsylvania. The crowd gathered at the airport to welcome Erin, and her carry-on backpack. [Listen, she's a professional, okay? She knows how to pack all the things. And she brought this one backpack and in it were her bridesmaid dress, her sweet shoes, a change of clothes, pajamas, toiletries, hair-doing supplies, make-up-doing supplies, and two gifts. You. Don't. Even. Know.] When she arrived, everyone screamed and hugged and giggled (except for, possibly, Sam and Rich... but I don't know, I wasn't actually there), and Ashley cried out, "What do you have there, Erin? A big bag of wrinkles!?" BAhaha!

When Sheri arrived, by contrast, she brought her entire bed from her bedroom! It's not only possible, but true, because she sleeps in a hammock that has a free-standing frame, and she is the coolest person known to Syracuse and beyond.

One of the best parts of being with these young women is hearing the stories. We sat enthralled Friday afternoon as Erin told us an incredible story about her and... a person... You'll see it published one day, and sold in the No-Freakin'-Way-Is-This-For-Real? section in Barnes and Noble. 

At the rehearsal, we realized that the groomsmen were all at least 10 inches taller than all the bridesmaids. We also realized that we had no pockets in which to keep the song lyrics, and were therefore compelled to practice the music together. We huddled around the lyrics and harmonized between processional and recessional.

Friday night, we were tasked with decorating 120 cupcakes with purple icing and sprinkles. Ashley made the icing, and the kitchen probably still has small purple evidences thereof, I know my shoes still do. But the sprinkles were especially interesting. As the icing hardened, we found that sprinkles weren't sticking... until Sheri started to throw them aggressively at the lovely purple cupcakes! 26 seconds later, opalescent sprinkles were flying all over the room, and they will also probably stay in dining room crannies for as long as the house itself stands. 

The puns and the laughing. 

Christine married a wonderful guy on Saturday. 

We packed up the reception site with many hands. My car and Sam's truck were full of wedding paraphernalia. Sam and I even had the privilege of packing up Christine's wedding dress. It went like this:
Sam: I don't understand why girls even save these!
Me: Because, it's special! [aggressively adjusts the hanger and bodice thereon]
Sam: But look, the bottom's dirty, and it's never gonna be worn again. [gingerly gathers the bottom of the dress, and places it in a bag, to avoid further damage]

After packing and hauling all the presents to the house, and finally backing my car into the driveway during a moment in which my hands refused to cooperate due to laughter, things got more serious. Christine and Rich were off on a new adventure, and we were four of us, glad for a few moments of being together and doing nothing. We had just started a too-complicated game when a friend in crisis contacted Sheri. We stopped playing the game. We began to pray and sing. Listen, you know you're friends when you can transition into worship from a game of "Bang."

I've been writing this post for a month, and I don't even have time to tell you about the lack of GPS, and the smiling, and the twinkle lights in the barn, and the wheelchair, and the couches, and the kissing, and the Shulan-spilling-rum moment, and the game of ninja at the reception, and the speeches, and the gorgeous hair, and the loud laughing, and the praying, and the eating, and the trees, and the not-apple-cider doughnuts, and the staying up late to talk, and did I mention that time we started playing Bang, and ended up worshiping God in song? Praise the Lord. It was like that, you know? Praise the Lord forever.