Wedding, eh?

My sister got married on Friday.

That sentence was weird to write. I haven't said it in the past tense yet. I spent all last week saying it in the future tense, "My sister is getting married on Friday," but now that it's over, I guess it's necessary to speak of the joyous occassion in the past tense.

This week has been a marathon of sorts. The first of our out-of-town company arrived last Saturday, and ever since has been a flurry of cooking and cleaning activity at "home base," ie: my Grandmother's double wide mobile home up a dead end road deep in wooded-hill country.

Summer quarter started on Monday for me, so I spent several days planning syllabi, arranging grading scales, and writing ruberics. I never seem to be able to repeat what I did from last term, because there are always so many things I want to tweak and try to perfect. This quarter we're focusing a lot on current world events, combined with some political science and geography. It'll be a fun quarter, but I have to stay on my toes.

My sister married a Canadian from Ontario named Andrew. He is the oldest grandchild of a very large, awesome, fun family. His Dad's sister married his Mom's brother, so their respective families have grown up together. They are very close. A total of about 40 Canadians flew out from Ontario last week, along with another 10 or so friends coming down from BC, and our extended family came flocking into town as well. We've been feeding in mass quantities.

The wedding day dawned cloudy and overcast after torrential downpours on Thursday night (70 people were at "home base" for dinner, and we all crammed indoors or under the covered porch to eat). We had a marathon day that, for me, felt like a hurdle-race.

- The first hurdle was setting up the technology for the rehearsal brunch,

- 2nd was the rehearsal at 8:30AM,

- 3rd was MCing the rehearsal brunch for 80 people at 10:30AM,

- 4th was giving my maid-of-honor speech at 11:30AM,

- 5th was orchestrating and organizing the transformation of the brunch room into the reception room to match the vision in my head at 12:30,

- 6th was figuring out what to do with my hair and how to get a gerber daisy to stay in it at 1:30,

- 7th was not burning my fingers while curling my little sister's hair at 2:00,

- 8th was getting the bridal party fed and to pictures at the Lake by 3:00,

- 9th was surviving 2 hours of pictures in high heels, being attacked by bugs,

- 10th was getting everyone back to the church,

- 11th was getting the forgotten veil back to Megan and Andrew and the photographers at the Lake and

- 12th was getting the "scoring of the kiss" supplies from the grocery stores,

- 13th was extended family pictures in the sanctuary at 5:45

- 14th was creating the scoring sheets and slipping them to the groomsmen

- 15th was re-touches and final touches on hair and makeup in the chior loft with the other bridesmaids

- 16th was getting Megan outside the church and back into the entry way

- 17th was walking down the aisle

- 18th was watching my sister and Dad walk down the aisle without crying,

- 19th was standing for a full hour in those heels up in front of 400 people without crying or falling over

- 20th was signing the correct line of the marriage license (!!),

- 21st was getting the scoring sheets out during the kiss

- 22nd was getting back up the aisle without falling next to my long-legged escort,

- 23rd was the endless amount of hugging and talking for the next several hours

- 24th was helping direct the clean up crews as to what cars the left overs and decorations et al were to be put into.

- 25th was sending off my sister and brother-in-law with sparklers

- 26th was figuring out how we were going to get all the cars home, and

- 27th was making it safely to my bed-for-the-night (people were sleeping in my bed) and crashing into an exhausted slumber.

My thoughts and feelings this week have been 99.9999999 a mixture of absolute thrill over the love and happiness Megan and Andrew share, delight and comfort in the wonderful, special, close family my sister married into, and exhaustion. I love being around people and am usually energized by them, but this week my extrovert tendencies wore out after about Wednesday, and I hit a wall. I almost passed out in my Thursday afternoon class and ended up letting my students go early, calling in for some sick leave, and sleeping in my car for an hour before returning to the set-up work at the church. I.am.so.tired.

I slept 2 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon while my cousins up from California for 2 days went horseback riding with my little sister. I slept 2 hours this afternoon after the kids I babysat all night and took to church this morning were picked up by their family from the last day of Washingtonian/Canadian hang out happening at "home base."

As I type, Andrew's immediate family, his aunt and uncle and youngest double cousin, his grandparents, my immediate family, my grandmother, her sister and brother-in-law, my great-aunt and her daughter are out playing games and pulling out leftovers for dinner. I need to go join them - I WANT to go join them, because these Canadians rock! But I'm still tired!

The final Canadians leave tomorrow and I'm a bit sad that there is no determined time for when I'll see them next. I've quite fallen in love with them - Grandpa George and his twinkling, jovial personality, Grandpa Fred and his quiet steadiness, Annie-Lynn and her quick wit and gentle humor, Leah and Larissa and their good-natured teasing and criticism of their brother's personality, Braden and his quiet sensitivity, Aunt Deann and her upbeat personality, Uncle Jake and his practical, down-to-earth perspectives. It's weird to think of them as being my sister's family, but not mine. I'd love to claim them, I just don't really have the right!

But it's been a good week. In fact, it's been a great week. I wish I could have slowed down the clock and savored it more. I wish I could push "repeat."