The Loudamericans headed back to Minneapolis, well Woodbury, this past weekend to be part of Jim and Jens wedding. The beginning of the trip was quite painful as we waited at the airport for several hours for a plane to show up and fly us back home. The old saying " The road to a friends house is never long" was ringing in our ears and finally we were in the car with Uncle Jim. Tracy was there before us (went in a day early for work) and was already at the hotel, testing the mattress to make sure we could get a good night's sleep, so Jim came to get the rest of us.
Friday was spent running errands and getting ready for the rehearsal dinner. Tux, check, well not really the shoes fit but the rest needed to be changed and we had to wait overnight as the tux parts came from Houston, really?, why is there even a need ahead of time to get measured, just go in the day before try on some random tux, it doesn't fit?, OK we'll send in the real one over night from Houston be here tomorrow to get it...The rehearsal was fun we all did great well except for one crabby Deacon who shall remain nameless and Tracy who had to read this particularly difficult version of the intentions. Well Tracy did fine it was the wording and giggling that set off the aforementioned Deacon. The rehearsal behind us, the adults headed over to Jim and Jens for some extremely awesome Mexican food and the kids headed elsewhere for pizza. The adults had a blast sharing stories and getting to know each other and Tracy, Tom, Jim and Jen got a kick out of the Groundhog cake and the situation leading up to it. It is and will remain an inside joke but rest assured there were tears of joy and laughter pains shared by all.
Saturday, Ground Hogs Day, and for a moment let me just say that Ground Hog's Day, above all others is Jim's favorite day, so it is fitting that he creates this day into a lifelong memorial day. The wedding party gathered at the church for photo's and more stories and bonding until the time came to turn serious. I will say that standing in the church and seeing the pure joy & happiness that was radiating from both Jim and Jen brought a tear to my eyes. Jim was busy running from here to there but when it was time to walk down the aisle he was more than present. The ceremony was awesome and at one point Jim got up to play guitar with the band ( or I guess you say choir in a church setting) and he did fabulous.
Everyone hit their marks, new their lines and looked wonderful. The Deacon that married them, had them write love letters to each other and then read them to the whole congregation, it was really touching and a great personal, intimate touch to the ceremony.
The newly weds were eager to get home and crash so that they'd be ready for their honeymoon the next day. so.. we all packed it up and headed home.
Sunday was a bit of a slow start, even the kids were hung over from a weekend of partys and people.
Jimmy ended up with a touch of bug and all I'll say is...thank god for the barf bags in your airline seat....
JIm and Jen - Many happy returns of the day, all the best, love each other, be an example of peace in the world and KNOW that you are loved:)
