I’m baa-acck!

This past Saturday was Jason and Mittu’s wedding! I would have loved to have blogged about it along the way or at least mentioned the date ahead of time, but I have this phobia of some cyber-stalker figuring out that I’m away from home and looting the house while I’m gone, so I didn’t want to mention being away. I had planned to blog a little every day, but the last few days it just wasn’t possible.

So, last Tuesday Jim, Jeremy, and Jesse took off to OK in the car pulling a trailer with which to bring back some of Mittu’s furniture and wedding gifts, etc. We had planned to rent a U-Haul there, but U-haul won’t rent to folks with Ford Explorers due to a lawsuit some time ago. 🙄 Jason and I flew out Wed. morning. Originally Jason was flying out so he could get there earlier to get things done for the wedding, then Jim saw that the one-way flights weren’t that terribly expensive, so he offered to let me fly with Jason. That flight and trip was probably the smoothest, most problem free I have ever experienced. That spared me the long car drive and them from having to stop quite so often. They ended up not stopping overnight as planned — just pulled into a rest stop for a couple of hours — so we ended up all getting there close to the same time.

From Wed. through Sat. was filled with getting things done for the wedding and meeting people. I was especially impressed with some of the ladies from Mittu’s church — they were there lending a hand at just about every phase. Meeting people is not my best thing, though God has helped me with that over the years, and there was just one point when it seemed overwhelming and I wished for a quiet spot alone, but that coincided with a bit of tummy trouble which may have had a lot to do with those feelings. Much of Mittu’s extended family  flew in and overall they were very kind.

There were a couple of Indian rituals along the way. One was what they called Mehndi which involved temporary painted tattoos made from henna on the hands of the female wedding party attendants. All of the immediate family is Christian rather than Hindu so none of these things were done with Hindu rites in mind.  Just out of interest I asked the lady doing it if there was any symbolism or history to it — but it seemed to be “just one of those things Indians do” and was meant to be ornamental in itself and the process almost along the lines of a spa treatment, a time to relax. I don’t think I got any pictures of it. There was another involving putting a paste made of tumeric on the bridal couple’s face, arms, and feet — I’m not sure of the word for that one — but it is somehow meant as a blessing to them. What’s supposed to happen afterward is everyone then paints this on everyone else and it’s meant to be a fun time of getting to know each other, but somehow they didn’t do that part. I don’t know if it was in deference to us (though we were prepared for it), or, as one said, it just just getting late and everyone was hungry and wanted to go ahead and eat.

The wedding morning dawned bright and sunny Saturday. I’m afraid I don’t have any pictures of the wedding itself — we’ll have to wait for the ones from the photographer. The only time I almost lost it was when the bride walked in and when toward the beginning of the ceremony they presented gifts to the parents. There were a couple of moments of unreality (“Is that really my son up there?!”) but overall things went really well. No major glitches except the city tornado warning siren going off toward the end. 😀

One other Indian custom during the wedding involved Jason tying a necklace made of a gold cord and a locket around Mittu’s neck while a longtime family friend read about the custom. It’s the Indian equivalent of the exchange of rings. It did have Hindu roots, but it has been Christianized and mention was specifically made of it being done in God’s name, so we had no problem with it (much like using Christmas trees and other such things which purportedly have pagan roots but which are used now in good conscience without those connections).

The family was careful to serve both Indian and American foods during all the get-togethers. Indian food is quite spicy but they would point out to us which ones were milder.

I just love all the kids in the bridal party. Most of them were friends from college and/or the camp where Jason and Mittu worked. I had met many of them before, and they were all such fun and all, especially the best man and maid of honor, put in a lot of work to help their friends.

My step-father and two sisters from Texas were able to come, and we enjoyed visiting with them during the reception and then at dinner that night and a quick breakfast before heading out.

We set out on the road Sunday morning and some time in the afternoon just before Clarksville, Arkansas, the tire of the trailer blew out. Jim called AAA only to discover they don’t cover trailers, and even if they did, they could only change the tire, not bring us out a new one. They called several tire places for us but they were all closed because it was Sunday. Jeremy googled around and found a Wal-Mart two exits up (the AAA person had said there were no WAl-Marts in the area…), so we had to disconnect the trailer and leave it on the side of the road with much prayer for protection while we zoomed up to Wal-Mart to get a lug wrench. Jim was going to try to put the spare from the car on the trailer long enough to get back up to Wal-Mart and replace the tire. While we were doing all that, who should call but Jason — he and Mittu had just passed the trailer on the side of the road! So they stopped to help us out. We got up to the Wal-Mart service center just as they were closing, but they graciously helped us out. If Jason and Mittu hadn’t “happened” along just when they did, we would have gotten to Wal-Mart past the tire center closing time. After all that was taken care of, we got to eat together, and then each went on our way. An unconventional way to spend part of one’s honeymoon, but I am glad it happened as it did! As we were dealing with disconnecting the trailer for a while, and I was praying that no one would steal it or its contents, I was thinking of the ramifications of all of that. Sometimes God does allow for such things to happen, and there are things He wants us to learn from such experiences, but it’s a little harder on one’s faith. I was just thrilled that He allowed the way it all worked out so that His hand was so obviously at work.

We ended up driving straight through (I say we — Jim drove the whole way) except for about an hour or so at a rest stop. Then we unloaded the trailer at the kids’ house, went back to our house and loaded Jason’s bedroom furniture on it and unloaded the same at their house, then got some pizza and crashed at home.

Got a great night’s sleep and a much-needed shower, and now need to finish unpacking and go to the store and then go over to the kids’ house to do a bit of cleaning.

It was a great time over all. I miss having a hotel room cleaned, beds made, and towels washed every morning. 😀 But other than that I’m glad to be home. Hope to have pictures soon!