bob.blog: a good weekend...

December 12, 2006

a good weekend...

So much community love and good feelings this weekend. And just a touch of Bob-dumbness™

Saturday was the rehearsal at the Sumner Community House and the rehearsal dinner at the MANsion (another of our community houses, just down the street). I was 15 minutes late to the rehearsal.

I'm not sure when this happened, this running 15 minutes late, perpetually. I think it was somewhere around the time kids came into my life. Another side-effect everyone failed to mention...
The rehearsal was short and sweet, the dinner long and cozy, with many people packed into the house and much good mexican food.

Sunday morning Chris led the discussion as we continued in Advent and wrapped up the story of Zechariah

And then a great community moment...

Sarah, who is one of our elders, and Jonathan one our community house denizens and an outstanding artist , had decided to marry on a Sunday so they could be at our gathering and do something special there.

Heath, another of our artists, create a Quaker-inspired marriage certificate for them, one on which everyone present could sign and signify their love and commitment for these two...

After our discussion and some singing, Sarah and Jonathan stepped up...

They signed first (and yeah- that's a good view of the back of the pub in which we meet. It's a serious riot of color and images...)

We got some good time to hear from Sarah and Jonathan about what the community means to them, and how appreciative they were of our role in their lives. And the community got some time to respond in kind, to tell these two how much we care for them. And I got to take credit for being the one who told Sarah, "You should look at that Jonathan Case guy... he's pretty cool!" :)

We prayed for them...
And then we all signed...

The wedding itself was fantastic. So much love in the room. So good to be surrounded by people you like and love, have amazingly good food and wine, be celebrating something that makes you wonderfully happy...
Amy and I have often missed most of the reception in the last few weddings, mainly because of kids and bedtimes and general crankiness. With this one, my mom and stepdad were gracious enough to keep Jack overnight and Jane for the wedding... so we were able to unwind and relax and enjoy. So much fun talking, and eating and drinking and dancing and celebrating...

A couple of highlights.
1. We now know exactly how many white-wine spritzers it takes to get a formerly baptist pastor out on the dance floor (the exact number is classified!)

2. A hint. Don't leave the wedding without signing the marriage certificate. Don't wake up in a panic at 5:30 the next morning thinking about the fact that you didn't get the marriage certificate signed. Don't track down the couple who are leaving for Fiji later in the day and don't meet them in the lobby of their hotel to get the certificates you forgot about the night before signed. And whatever you do, don't
all sit down, begin signing things, and realize halfway through that as they originally filled out their information days previous, both bride and groom went ahead and signed the certficate ahead of time.