So that’s the lineup, and I’m in the room putting on all the crap that comes with a tux. My mind is racing at this point…William Hung visions; wondering if my voice is going to crack on me during the important moments; this all started from a trip report!; wondering how Napi and the Peanut are doing; anything I can think about, it’s going through my head.
Finally, after close to 30 minutes of dressing, I get the ring from the safe, grab my camera (forgetting the handkerchief I had intended to take – biiiig mistake…), and make my way down to the lobby.
Of course, I get there and no sign of Janice. I ask around and am told to just sit and wait. Now mind you, I’m in the middle of the lobby, people are looking at me and figuring out real fast where I’m going, and as the clock is approaching 1620, I’m wondering how long it will be, before Napi comes down to this very same lobby to meet Janice!
Before long, Mr. G joins me in the lobby and explains that Napi and Lil’ sis are still in the room getting dressed. Janice joins us eventually and explains that she’s already called them and told Napi to remain in the room until she calls, and asks me to follow her to the wedding pagoda with Mr. G remaining in the lobby to eventually walk Napi down the aisle.
My heart, which had finally relaxed a few minutes earlier when a young man from DC stopped and chatted with me about the wedding he had just attended earlier that morning, is now back on danger close! speed as I make my way with Janice to the pagoda. It hasn’t dawned on me yet, but the first bead of sweat is starting to form on my brow, and will eventually threaten to drown me during the ceremony…
The Ceremony
I’m standing there for maybe 10 minutes and realize I am dripping with sweat. It’s crazy hot in this tux, and I don’t have a single thing to wipe this sweat from my face. Not the way to kick this thing off. Meanwhile, our already small group of 10 or so invited guests have not yet arrived. I’m standing there with the minister wondering where the heck is everyone, while this cat is beside me making all sorts of noise with his sax. I like the saxophone – this kid was playing like he didn’t! All of this is further adding to the fact that at this point I’m burning up in an ill-fitting tuxedo, while about as nervous as Bush at a NAACP convention…
Fortunately the guests all arrive (pretty much all family) and as we are all standing around shooting the breeze, while my man is doing his best to strangle that sax, out of the corner of my eye I spot Mr. G. I turn to the crowd and tell them “Here they come…” and turn back just in time to see Napi and Mr. G round the corner and instantly/instantly a weight is lifted from my shoulders and I know right then and there, I’m the luckiest man alive.
All of this is further adding to the fact that at this point I’m burning up in an ill-fitting tuxedo, while about as nervous as Bush at a NAACP convention…
try BUSH at Mrs. Coretta Scott King's funeral [img]/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]
Reverend (or is it minister?) Salter starts speaking to us, and for a brief moment I’m so lost in Napi’s beauty and in such awe of the moment, that all I’m hearing is blah, blah blah blah, bla blah. I snap myself out of it, realizing just how big a fool I’d look if her actually asked me something I wasn’t ready to answer! Let me pause and say that Mr. Salter did an outstanding job. I’ve been to several wedding over the course of the last 3 years, and in 90% of them, the rabbi/priest/minister seemed to be winging it!. I don’t mind a bit of subtle humor to lighten the overall mood of the ceremony, but I expect a level of professionalism that is appropriate for the business at hand! He handled it perfectly.
Anyway, he’s speaking to us about the commitment we are about to undertake; the seriousness of that commitment; the love that we must never lose for each other, and all the while I’m standing there looking back from him to Napi and back, still amazed that Napi and I have arrived at this beautiful point in our lives together.
He gets through most of the “sermon” part, and turns to the crowd to ask whether anyone there would be dumb enough to protest our union. I give the crowd the Mr. Spock eyebrow and the silence is appreciated!
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Meanwhile, Mr. G doesn’t quite realize his time on the stage has already passed…
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lol! he kind of looks like your best man, standing there. i can only imagine the thoughts going through his mind as he watches his baby girl take this major step in her life. in fact, he looks a little like he's praying.
lovely story and lovely pics, SoulHunter. Thanks for sharing/
Mr. Salter asks me a series of questions (or was it one?) and I’m hoping Napi remembers, or we’ll have to go to instant replay on the tape, and the whole time I’m barely hearing him ‘cause in my mind I’m trying to restrain myself from shouting “OH HELL YES I DO!” I manage to answer the questions (correctly!) and Napi must have sensed how nervous I was, since she was darn near laughing at me at this point…
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