Subject: Weekend Update: April 14-20, 2003
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2003 14:04:54 -0400

As soon as had I sent last week's update, I put in for some
vacation time and took the afternoon off to set fire to the
pile of brush in the corn crib.  It was worth spending the
vacation hours, even to do yardwork, because sitting under
flourescent lighting can be suck the life out of you when
the real thing is being broadcast over the whole of the great
outdoors.  Joy and I worked hard all afternoon.  We tended
the fire, pushing the outer sticks into the center of the
hot embers to be consumed.  I dug out soggy branches from
a pile in the back corner of the yard and continued to
feed the fire; it was hot enough to dry out the wet wood
and then turn it into ashes.  A couple of pallets and a broken
footstool found their way to molecular transformation, too.
Tilling is just a few weeks away.  I'll mix the ashes with
the dirt.

We were busy each night of Holy Week.  On Wednesday, I went
to our church for choir practice while Joy went with Paula
Bickom to her church for an Easter drama presentation.  Joy
came back very impressed by the performance and said that it
was powerfully moving.  Choir wasn't half bad.

On Thursday, we attended the Maunday Thursday service, and
then the Good Friday service the next evening.

Jessica and David came home for the weekend on Friday evening.
We were to pick up Jessica's wedding dress on Saturday morning.
Speaking of which: I finally have a job for the wedding other
than "Show up, shut up, and pay up."  I am putting together a
pictorial powerpoint presentation to be shown to guests in that
time before the ceremony starts that people are just waiting
in the pews.  Joy and I spent time scanning in a lot of=20
photographs of David (thanks to his mother Lana) and Jessica.
It is starting to take shape and is already bringing a tear
to my eye as I look at "the little girl I once knew."

I roused the couple out of their separate beds earlier than
they liked on Saturday, and cooked us some breakfast.  We had
to spend our morning judiciously because Joy and I had to be
off to a wedding that afternoon. When we got to the bridal shop,
we found that we were there a half hour before the shop opened.
Undetered, we walked over the the Men's Warehouse because I
wanted to buy a new suit for the wedding.  They were open.

A fellow named Hector found a suit for me that I liked. More
importantly, Joy liked it. I haven't bought a real suit in over
a decade so I tried not to let my sticker-shock show too much.
I wondered if they were charging me by the inch... around the
waist! I decided to forego a tuxedo rental or purchase so that
I get a better return on my investment. Hector deftly ran up
the tab by adding several accoutrements to "complete the look"
of a father-of-the-bride. I drew the line at shoes, however,
because I have a pair that only need a good buffing.  I was
starting to get a bit annoyed when one attendant tried to sell
me a cedar hanger to keep moths away from the inside shoulders
of my "investment."  I want to look the part of father-of-the-bride
but not play the part of taken-for-a-ride. =20

By the time the chalk marks had been made for tailoring and my
ensemble was purchased and bagged, the bridal shop was open.
Joy and Jessica went in to pick up the dress; David and I milled
about the entrance.  Joy checked the dress at the store and noticed
that one of the beads was missing. She asked if David's Bridal Shoppe
had performed its bead check and dress pressing.  They had neglected
their duty so we left the dress in the shop for them to make amends;
we left empty-handed.

Joy and I journeyed to Manchester, Connecticutt Saturday afternoon
to witness the wedding of Brian Wallace and Heidi Swenson.  I watched
with interest the father of the bride giving his daughter away. He
hugged her and whispered something, then hugged Brian for a while
longer, whispering something else.  Speculation from several dads
around me and including me was something to the effect that "if
you ever hurt my daughter, I'll KILL you!" ;-) Brian and Heidi
passed as husband and wife beneath the crossed sabers of four men
from Brian's military unit.  Cindy Wallace (Brian's Mom) told us that
she has Nina Chronopolous to thank for such a nice daughter-in-law
because Nina introduced Heidi to Brian, and perhaps more importantly,
picked up where Cindy left off when Brian's family moved to Florida.
Chris (Brian's best man) and Nina took Brian into their home for some
time and have been fast friends for even longer.

Miranda was also at the wedding.  Emily and Andrew were at a
meeting for Nazarene Youth Conference.  Jess and Dave stayed
home to study, and to catch a basketball game on TV that left
David dumbstruck because of a final-second shot in overtime=20
that snatched victory from the team he wanted to win.  David
wondered if I was going to root against the team he liked, and
I told him that I had to care about basketball first to root
for one team or another.  I asked him if it was okay for me to
simply not root against his team, or to consider my apathy
as tacit rooting. He seemed fine with that, until his team
lost and he secretly blamed me for not lending my positive
energy to his team!  (Ray Walters knows something of what
that is like.) :-)

We awoke a bit early on Easter Sunday morning to get to breakfast
at the church.  The Lenten fast is over.  Andrew has a sip of Coke
before Emily drove Andrew around on his paper route. He rewarded Em
and himself with some doughnuts. I poured myself a half glass of
Coca-cola myself that morning and stood with it out in the
sunshine that streamed through the windows of our spa room.
It was as smooth, sweet, and bubbly as I had remembered.

As in several years past, the Gonzalez family joined us for
Easter dinner.  We hid some plastic, candy-filled eggs in the
pool area for their girls.  The Pape's disappeared to Maine
after the morning service, so after the evening service, we
provided a landing spot for the young adults and older teens
who like to get together on Sunday evening.  They set up
a spotlight in the side yard and played wiffleball for much
of the evening.

Mark