what a week this has been..
I spent the last ten days in Laporte, the longest stretch of time I've had there in over a year. (I keep remembering how in elementary school, the parents would pick us up in the van on the last day of school and we'd drive straight up to Laporte, and we wouldn't come back until the first weekend in September. Those were the days. Every day down at the beach, swimming and building sand castles, or romping through the woods, and playing the complicated jailbreak-esque Blueberry Hill game that seemed to involve every kid on the beach. Now just a weekend there is precious, even just to relax and read.) I drove up to Laporte on the 10th, exactly one week before Carrie and Leif's wedding.
I don't even know what all I did the whole week, it's such a blur of activity. Finished Puzo's The Godfather and almost finished To Kill a Mockingbird, for one. Didn't do any work on my honors thesis, that's for sure, or any work for my summer research job to earn a few extra bucks, despite the fact that I had gone up there with every intention of putting in some serious hours on both. Helped Mom around the house a lot, which I know she really appreciated, decorating the downstairs for the rehersal dinner (tapping into my artist-slash-martha stewart to become a tulle master) and doing some baking for her (my brownies were well-received, yay!) and spending some quality time with Carrie and Leif.
(I haven't known Leif for too long, but he already feels like a brother to me. He's a great guy, and I genuinely like him. I see how incredibly happy he makes my sister and I'm just thrilled for her that she's found such a good man. Carrie is one of my favorite people in my whole life. I love her and look up to her so much, and I am so happy for her. )
Thursday was when it really started getting crazy. That was the day that my brother Steve, the other bridesmaid Amy, and the three Vikings arrived. The Vikings are: Jon Inge, or JI; Erik, or Oatbags, and John Edward, or JE. The nicknames are of course the work of Carrie. (How she can give people nicknames and get them to accept them has always amazed me). Andrea, Carrie's friend from high school, also showed up because she had volunteered to sing a solo at the wedding (Carrie chose "at last" at my suggestion, it is hands down my favorite love song. every time i hear the first few lines... "at last, my love has finally come along, my lonely days are over..." i get goosebumps). ... (ok ok, i'm a hopeless romantic... gimme a break). that night we all had a big lasagne dinner followed by a game of trivial pursuit (my team, Steve, JE and me, kicked ass). Leif started teasing me that he "saw a spark" between me and JE, which I would neither confirm no deny because when Carrie heard him teasing me, she was like "Whaaaat?! No..." and then later "there will only be one romance this weekend" and finally "but Bob (that's me), he smokes, that's yucky to kiss!" and i'm just like, geez, i don't even know if he has a girlfriend, let's not get ahead of ourselves.
The big event of Friday was the wedding rehersal followed by the rehersal dinner. The wedding rehersal was great, I got some much-needed practice on walking down the isle (got scolded by the pastor for walking down too soon, walking too fast...). Carrie and Leif got to practice their vows, and though Leif said his without a problem, Carrie could only say the first phrase before she started bawling. She just buried her face in his chest and cried while he hugged her. She loves him so much, that she couldn't even finish practicing the vows because they made her cry so hard. It was so sweet. After that was all done, we went back to our house where all the out-of-towners had gathered for the rehersal dinner. What a spread! it was catered, but mom still felt the need to contribute her own mini-feast, so there was no shortage of food. It was great to see people like Tom Swain and Dick and Susan Foot, cousins we hardly ever see. It was good to have them all gathered together in one place, too, for such a special occasion.
I talked more with JE, joking around and such, making each other laugh. I finally admitted (though only to myself) that I was developing a crush on him. It's pretty rare to find a guy who is both genuine and goofy, sincere and - hey, he likes to read! what more could i ask? But I tried not to get too flirty (my closest friends would say that that would be quite the accomplishment) because I didn't want to bother Carrie and plus I don't know if Leif's teasing is more encouraging me or more just teasing me coz he knows something I don't (like JE has a wife and three kids back in Norway ...or he was just being nice but told the other Vikings that I was totally not his type or something) ... (yeah, i'm a hopeless romantic and paranoid. it's a great combination). around 9:30, the three vikings decided to go (still dealing with jet lag, i think) and the other two asked JE if he wanted to stay longer, but his back was to me so I couldn't see his expression. then they asked me if I wanted him to stay longer, and i was just kind of like "errmm..." so yeah, it's all sorts of confused.
saturday was a long day. i woke up at 7:00, by then Carrie was already in the shower (i found out later that she woke up at 4:30 and couldn't go back to sleep, dad did the same thing only he woke up at 4:00). I showered and tried to blow dry my hair (given my klutzy nature, getting it moderately dry and semi-straight was a definite victory), then Amy and I went to get our hair done uptown. we were back at the house around 9:45, right on schedule. By then the boys (Dad, Steve, JE, JI, Oatbags and Leif) were all done up in their tuxedoes and looking all sorts of good. I went in to get dressed (i love my light blue gown) and help Carrie get dressed. I had to deliver Leif's wedding band to JE (the best man), and when I went out to him (they were all getting their pictures done in the driveway) he watched me walk up and gave me appreciative smiles so i think the only thing i could do was blush. I had to try to help calm Carrie's nerves (she sipped ginger ale and tried not to feel sick) and then we got family pictures taken, and bridesmaids and bride pictures taken.
around 11:00, we went to the church. While Amy and I waited to go in, I looked back at Carrie standing by herself on the sidewalk, her big bouquet in hand, all done up in her white gown, just waiting, and I knew that I wouldn't get through the ceremony without crying. And I didn't - as soon as Carrie started walking down the aisle with dad, the tears started. It was a beautiful ceremony, Carried cried a lot but it was good crying. I was glad I had a stash of tissues hidden under my bouquet, because i had to keep slipping them to her through the whole wedding. once Carrie walked back down the aisle with Leif, all her jitters had gone and she was just beaming. I walked out with JE, then we all had to gether for the receiving line, and I stood next to JE because I figured the best man and maid of honor should stand next to each other, but it was also good to have the opportunity to joke around with him a little bit. Everyone took a surrey with two horses to the reception, and when Carrie and Leif eventually pulled up, we were all gathered in front of the Pavilion (where the reception was) and the pastor announced them as Mr. and Mrs. Leif Rune Evje, and we tossed rice at them, then went in for lunch.
One of the first things that happened at the reception was JE gave his toast, which was quite good, everyone laughed at his jokes, and was pretty intimidating because I had to give a toast too and I didn't think mine would match up. We had good food, but I actually didn't have much of an appetite because I was so nervous about giving my toast. I didn't think it would be good enough, I thought my parents wouldn't like it... I wrote it at quarter after 1 the night before. So when I got up to give it, I was practically shaking. But I did it, not without a few mistakes. When I finished I looked over at Carrie and she was bawling so I went over to hug her and I ended up crying too. So we just hugged and cried for a little. Dad and Uncle Dick also gave toasts, and Steve gave a little toast. We had cake and ice cream and it was a good time, even though there was no dancing (and therefore I couldn't have the traditional dance with the best man, boo, hiss.) it was a great time. Afterwards we went back to the house, decorated the car for Carrie and Leif for their honeymoon, said goodbye to the three Vikings *sniff, sniff*. I got a hug, but no contact info... hm, i may need to remedy the situation... then we sent Leif and Carrie off on their honeymoon to cape cod and maine.
So that was basically my week, it's definitely something I'll never forget.
to see pictures from this past week:
http://community.webshots.com/user/suzi10384
(my other accounts are under the usernames of suzi10382 (general pics and scotland) and suzi10383 (italy) ) so check them out as well, if you want.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment