Wedding and Germany (my roots)
After yesterday's driving debacle, today was more of a "I wish there were a couple more hours in the day" kind of thing. A lot of today was spent furniture shopping. And suit buying. And book buying. And food buying. Oh, and it was every bit of 100 degrees as well. Needless to say I'm wiped. But, I have a nice long plane ride tomorrow where I will be able to sleep away (hopefully).
This past weekend was Mike's wedding down in Harrisonburg. Arriving Friday evening at Harrisonburg Baptist Church for the rehearsal, I got all caught up in the events of the big day. Mike and Erin walked down the aisle (a few times) and I began to recognize that this was one of my first really good friends to finally tie the knot. Yeah, I have had good friends get married before, but Mike was one of my roommates senior year and there were many a late night spent with him doing crazy antics or shooting the breeze until late hours. After the rehearsal came the customary "Rehearsal Dinner" or as his mom liked to call it, the "After rehearsal dinner" Either way, there was some incredible food, and all of us just got to hang out in a real low key environment before the wedding.
Around 10 o'clock the wedding party plus a few other Harrisonburger's caught up at one of the local joints in town - Dave's. This place was sweet. Pitchers of beer cost $6.75. I almost fell off my seat I was so excited. We sat around and talked for a couple hours and eventually made it back to Mike's house in preparation for his big day.
The wedding itself was a really cool service. They exchanged vows and rings, they kissed and all of that stuff associated with weddings. I was at the back of the church in the lobby (or whatever) when Erin was getting ready to walk down the aisle. All of the sudden she was like "FLOWERS!!!" as she realized she didn't have her bouquet of flowers. Since all of the bridesmaids were well on down the aisle by this point, it was up to one of the usher's to pull through in the clutch. As the flowers were closest to me, I turned around grabbed the bouquet and gave them to Erin. Disaster averted. The last thing she would have wanted to was to walk down the aisle on her wedding day without flowers. And because of me, that didn't have to happen. (Of course, if I wasn't there, I am sure someone else would have come through in the clutch. I would hope.)
A mere 25 or 30 minutes later, Erin was walking back down the aisle (flowers in one hand, her husband's hand in the other) as a newlywed. After the recessional, Mike and Erin actually went back into the church and excused each row, talking with everyone who came to the wedding. This was a pretty cool idea I think. It took awhile, but at the same time, I like it because they got to see everyone who was there and thank them for coming.
After the wedding of course comes the reception and this did not dissappoint. At a country club, we were entertained by a live band which consisted of some of Mike's guitar teachers and others who were really incredible. Mike even went up front and played a few songs. In another cool thing, they had a cupcake-cake. It was layers of cupcakes. Really cool. We were kind of curious as to if they were going to take the top layer of cupcakes and save them for the 1st anniversary, or if they would just save 2. We never got a resolution to our question, unfortunately. At the reception, we were all able to catch up with some more old friends and just have a good time overall.
I eventually left and made my way back to Richmond so that I could make it to Baltimore on Sunday. (Well Baltimore, then DC, then Baltimore.... all in a day's work).
Tomorrow I head off to the land of my roots. My uncle sister and I are headed to Nettlingen Germany which is the town where my ancestors are from. My great, great grandfather started a hotel in the 1800's and he had 2 sons. Because of premogeniture, my great grandfather was awarded nothing and at the turn of the century decided to come to America and start a new life for himself. With a friend, he opened a fur business in Baltimore which remains today. My grandfather worked there, my uncle and dad worked there, and as you all probably have guessed, I won't be following in their footsteps as medical school is now on the horizon.
Over the years from when my great grandfather left Germany, our familes lost touch (email wasn't exactly popular) through both of the wars and in the 1940's we lost complete touch with our family. 50 years later, in 1997, my uncle, the one who is going with me, randomly called up (well, he had done tons of research) Germany asking for Siegfried [last name is the same as ours, so I won't divulge] as he was the last record that we had. The man who answered the phone said that he was not Siegfried, but that was in fact his father. Needless to say, we have been reunited.
My uncle and his wife have been over there a number of times, my grandmother went over, other aunts and uncles have gone and I have been there before as well. My sister, though, has not been there yet. Everytime we go, we are welcomed with open arms and hearts. This makes my sister somewhat concerned, especially since essentially the whole town knows we are coming. It's a lot like small town America, where everyone knows everyone and is in everyone's business. So something like "the crazy American [last name]'s are coming" sets the town in a frenzy. I'm pretty excited.
Being that it is now nearly 1AM and I have yet to pack, I am going to head out. I won't be posting when I am in Germany (at least I think not) but I plan on taking lots of pictures so I should have some interesting posts when I get back... Depending on the computer situation I might be able to post everyday, but I doubt it. If you feel so inclined, check in say about Saturday. If I haven't posted anything, don't expect anything.
Auf wiedersehen!
noch wartend,
-wait
This past weekend was Mike's wedding down in Harrisonburg. Arriving Friday evening at Harrisonburg Baptist Church for the rehearsal, I got all caught up in the events of the big day. Mike and Erin walked down the aisle (a few times) and I began to recognize that this was one of my first really good friends to finally tie the knot. Yeah, I have had good friends get married before, but Mike was one of my roommates senior year and there were many a late night spent with him doing crazy antics or shooting the breeze until late hours. After the rehearsal came the customary "Rehearsal Dinner" or as his mom liked to call it, the "After rehearsal dinner" Either way, there was some incredible food, and all of us just got to hang out in a real low key environment before the wedding.
Around 10 o'clock the wedding party plus a few other Harrisonburger's caught up at one of the local joints in town - Dave's. This place was sweet. Pitchers of beer cost $6.75. I almost fell off my seat I was so excited. We sat around and talked for a couple hours and eventually made it back to Mike's house in preparation for his big day.
The wedding itself was a really cool service. They exchanged vows and rings, they kissed and all of that stuff associated with weddings. I was at the back of the church in the lobby (or whatever) when Erin was getting ready to walk down the aisle. All of the sudden she was like "FLOWERS!!!" as she realized she didn't have her bouquet of flowers. Since all of the bridesmaids were well on down the aisle by this point, it was up to one of the usher's to pull through in the clutch. As the flowers were closest to me, I turned around grabbed the bouquet and gave them to Erin. Disaster averted. The last thing she would have wanted to was to walk down the aisle on her wedding day without flowers. And because of me, that didn't have to happen. (Of course, if I wasn't there, I am sure someone else would have come through in the clutch. I would hope.)
A mere 25 or 30 minutes later, Erin was walking back down the aisle (flowers in one hand, her husband's hand in the other) as a newlywed. After the recessional, Mike and Erin actually went back into the church and excused each row, talking with everyone who came to the wedding. This was a pretty cool idea I think. It took awhile, but at the same time, I like it because they got to see everyone who was there and thank them for coming.
After the wedding of course comes the reception and this did not dissappoint. At a country club, we were entertained by a live band which consisted of some of Mike's guitar teachers and others who were really incredible. Mike even went up front and played a few songs. In another cool thing, they had a cupcake-cake. It was layers of cupcakes. Really cool. We were kind of curious as to if they were going to take the top layer of cupcakes and save them for the 1st anniversary, or if they would just save 2. We never got a resolution to our question, unfortunately. At the reception, we were all able to catch up with some more old friends and just have a good time overall.
I eventually left and made my way back to Richmond so that I could make it to Baltimore on Sunday. (Well Baltimore, then DC, then Baltimore.... all in a day's work).
Tomorrow I head off to the land of my roots. My uncle sister and I are headed to Nettlingen Germany which is the town where my ancestors are from. My great, great grandfather started a hotel in the 1800's and he had 2 sons. Because of premogeniture, my great grandfather was awarded nothing and at the turn of the century decided to come to America and start a new life for himself. With a friend, he opened a fur business in Baltimore which remains today. My grandfather worked there, my uncle and dad worked there, and as you all probably have guessed, I won't be following in their footsteps as medical school is now on the horizon.
Over the years from when my great grandfather left Germany, our familes lost touch (email wasn't exactly popular) through both of the wars and in the 1940's we lost complete touch with our family. 50 years later, in 1997, my uncle, the one who is going with me, randomly called up (well, he had done tons of research) Germany asking for Siegfried [last name is the same as ours, so I won't divulge] as he was the last record that we had. The man who answered the phone said that he was not Siegfried, but that was in fact his father. Needless to say, we have been reunited.
My uncle and his wife have been over there a number of times, my grandmother went over, other aunts and uncles have gone and I have been there before as well. My sister, though, has not been there yet. Everytime we go, we are welcomed with open arms and hearts. This makes my sister somewhat concerned, especially since essentially the whole town knows we are coming. It's a lot like small town America, where everyone knows everyone and is in everyone's business. So something like "the crazy American [last name]'s are coming" sets the town in a frenzy. I'm pretty excited.
Being that it is now nearly 1AM and I have yet to pack, I am going to head out. I won't be posting when I am in Germany (at least I think not) but I plan on taking lots of pictures so I should have some interesting posts when I get back... Depending on the computer situation I might be able to post everyday, but I doubt it. If you feel so inclined, check in say about Saturday. If I haven't posted anything, don't expect anything.
Auf wiedersehen!
noch wartend,
-wait
mindless ramblings by wait at
12:58 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home