Wedding and Calf
Following my Friday research fun I rushed off to BP's wedding at Harrisburg Mennonite Church.
I neared the establishment and spied a group of young men loitering before the building. I pulled into the parking lot and one of them approached my car.
"Are you doing anything at the wedding?" he asked.
"No," I replied. "Just being late." He directed me around the building and another of the boys oversaw my parking like a technician at Oil Can Henry's.
I went inside and took a solitary seat by the nursery. The service had already begun and the seats were mostly filled. There were a few other Hopewellites in attendance, but the majority of attendees were from Harrisburg/Tangent.
The wedding colors were black, purple, pink and cream or yellow.
It was a fine wedding -- a good sermon about marriage, relatively short vows, nothing very abnormal. The post-vow prayer was said, and the couple turned around as one less flesh than when they entered the building. I awaited my turn to be ushered out, and went forth to bless the couple.
My gas light was performing its weekly blinking activity, so I got some gas before heading to the Lake Creek Mennonite School (which, incidentally, I drive by ten times/week but have not been inside since the 1993 June meetings). I parked in the playground grass and took myself to the inside of the building.
I was seated by a lady whom I learned to be MZ, wife of the Tangent MC bishop. I had previously spoken to her on the phone when I was searching for a place to stay while attending vet school; and her husband has preached at Hopewell, but I had forgotten/never known her looks. She was a delightful person to converse with about important topics. She informed me that they are thinking about starting a church in the Sacramento, CA area... which was welcome news to me since I have thought about working in California after vet school. Who knows where that will go, and I don't think it would work for me to join their church... but it would be a fellowship option.
The bride and groom and their attendants passed to the front of the room and ascended the stairs to the stage bearing the bridal table. Following a speech and some picture taking, each fellow aided his associated girl in sitting and went to stand behind his chair. When they were all lined up, they simultaneously took off their suit coats and hung them on the backs of their chairs.
I addition to MZ, I talked to LK, whose mother died this year; LB, whose sister lost five children two weeks ago; and JS, whose brother is married to LB's sister. It's hard (for me) to know what to say to people in such a situation. "Wow, that's hard" and a few other phrases are about all I came up with. But I reckon few words are better than many, unsuitable words...
LK has actually shown up on this blog before, as Arrival 1 of the Calf Pulling episode. I asked him about his cattle, and he related a fairly classic veterinary story. DON'T read this story if you're not up to hearing about an abdominal surgery.
He bought a new calf from his dad and the calf turned out to be more wild than he thought. They put the calf in a barn with glass windows, and the calf didn't take a fancy to the establishment. It jumped through the glass and partially eviscerated itself, so he called out draft horse club aquaintance/George Fox University graduate/vet school grad Jeff Brubaker. JB pulled out a piece of glass and sutured the cut -- and LB said the calf never missed a beat.
I neared the establishment and spied a group of young men loitering before the building. I pulled into the parking lot and one of them approached my car.
"Are you doing anything at the wedding?" he asked.
"No," I replied. "Just being late." He directed me around the building and another of the boys oversaw my parking like a technician at Oil Can Henry's.
I went inside and took a solitary seat by the nursery. The service had already begun and the seats were mostly filled. There were a few other Hopewellites in attendance, but the majority of attendees were from Harrisburg/Tangent.
The wedding colors were black, purple, pink and cream or yellow.
It was a fine wedding -- a good sermon about marriage, relatively short vows, nothing very abnormal. The post-vow prayer was said, and the couple turned around as one less flesh than when they entered the building. I awaited my turn to be ushered out, and went forth to bless the couple.
My gas light was performing its weekly blinking activity, so I got some gas before heading to the Lake Creek Mennonite School (which, incidentally, I drive by ten times/week but have not been inside since the 1993 June meetings). I parked in the playground grass and took myself to the inside of the building.
I was seated by a lady whom I learned to be MZ, wife of the Tangent MC bishop. I had previously spoken to her on the phone when I was searching for a place to stay while attending vet school; and her husband has preached at Hopewell, but I had forgotten/never known her looks. She was a delightful person to converse with about important topics. She informed me that they are thinking about starting a church in the Sacramento, CA area... which was welcome news to me since I have thought about working in California after vet school. Who knows where that will go, and I don't think it would work for me to join their church... but it would be a fellowship option.
The bride and groom and their attendants passed to the front of the room and ascended the stairs to the stage bearing the bridal table. Following a speech and some picture taking, each fellow aided his associated girl in sitting and went to stand behind his chair. When they were all lined up, they simultaneously took off their suit coats and hung them on the backs of their chairs.
I addition to MZ, I talked to LK, whose mother died this year; LB, whose sister lost five children two weeks ago; and JS, whose brother is married to LB's sister. It's hard (for me) to know what to say to people in such a situation. "Wow, that's hard" and a few other phrases are about all I came up with. But I reckon few words are better than many, unsuitable words...
LK has actually shown up on this blog before, as Arrival 1 of the Calf Pulling episode. I asked him about his cattle, and he related a fairly classic veterinary story. DON'T read this story if you're not up to hearing about an abdominal surgery.
He bought a new calf from his dad and the calf turned out to be more wild than he thought. They put the calf in a barn with glass windows, and the calf didn't take a fancy to the establishment. It jumped through the glass and partially eviscerated itself, so he called out draft horse club aquaintance/George Fox University graduate/vet school grad Jeff Brubaker. JB pulled out a piece of glass and sutured the cut -- and LB said the calf never missed a beat.
posted by Claire at 14:07
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