Cheryl & Chris's Wedding Blog
Friday, October 01, 2004
Ding, Dong, the witch is dead....
We have completed our 4 weeks of marital training and are hereby officially qualified to take on the world! Ok, that's a little flip. But we have completed 10 hours of coverage of what a Catholic marriage means. Come to think of it, on the evaluation, I should have added that a little thought should be given to covering "mixed" marriages like ours in which the Catholic teachings on marriage may not 100% fit with our lives. For example, they really pushed going to mass together. That would be lovely, it's not like I'm against the idea, but it doesn't fit a marriage where one partner is no way going to mass. Anyways, I thought the communication session had the most ecumenical appeal, and liked the actual session on NFP. But a lot of it was long stretches of listening to talks. I was laughing when I talked to Chris last night afterwards, because I realized that after the very first talk, there were no questions asked for the balance of the sessions. Everyone was afraid that we'd be there even longer. Sigh. It was funny, last week a different couple sat down at our table, and we started talking. Turns out the guy, Jeff, used to race bikes, and they were really nice. When they ended the session last night, we went into the Church, there was a blessing, they gave us our certificates of completion, and we left. So they called us up one by one and then we walked out the door. It was a bit of a bummer, as Chris and I were talking about we actually wouldn't have minded going to do something afterwards with this couple. But they were long gone before we got our certificates. Far be it for us to have arranged something prior to the very last possible moment. Oh well. The other thing that was interesting was being in a room full of engaged couples. Just not a situation that we've ever been in before, or will be in again.
So with a mixture of (mostly) exasperation and (a little)regret, we bid a fond adieu to Catholic premarital classes. On to the next adventure!
Thursday, September 30, 2004
Sean found a page on the 10 things you should do in St Louis before you die. I found out that I have only accomplished 4 - I better get cracking on this. But it did prompt the question, how do I measure up in other cities in which I've lived. So first up, the 10 things to do in Pittsburgh. I've done 4 of these too. Ok, how about 10 things to do in Houston? Four there as well. So at least I'm consistent, although I know now that I need to get crackin' on accomplishing all of these. The one thing I did notice is that St Louis is missing one of the key things to do - Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. If you like ice cream, you have to try this stuff. You'll die happy.
So for you out of towners planning on coming in for the wedding - you have your requirements!
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Woohooo! One Invitation completely finished! The name is on the front, there are stamps on the appropriate envelopes, maps & hotel information are inside, the RSVP card is numbered (Thanks for the pointer, Emma!), and everything is sealed. I'm sure Chris was impressed with my dancing around the house with my finished invitation. Only 116 to go...Eeks. That's in addition to finishing 3 more chapters of my certification book, signing up for the first of five certification classes next week or two, swimming tonight, wedding classes on Thursday, and a boatload of thank you cards. I think I need a paper bag to breath into.
[Ed's note: You can read the highlights of the talk here]
We went to see a talk by PJ O'Rourke last night, and he was hysterical. He heckles the political process in general, with some shots at specific individuals (President Bush, Kerry, Ted Kennedy). One of his best known lines is "Giving money and power to government is like giving liquor and car keys to teen age boys." He is conservative, which didn't go over well with the crowd last night. To understand, this is part of the Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures series, and their speakers tend towards the liberal and the feminist with a few scientists in the mix to keep things interesting. I've seen a lot of good speakers there. But most of these were season subscribers who probably weren't too thrilled to see Mr O'Rourke instead of, say, Al Franken. Alas, people felt that it was ok to yell at him from the audience rather than taking their turns to ask questions. Just a suggestion folks, if you're going to try to take someone down, this is not the guy to do it with. He's funny, he's smart, and he's been there and done that. In addition, if you think that's going to change the mind of people like me, you're barking up the wrong tree. It just made me so contemptuous of the hecklers that it rubbed off on the message. So it was a bit of a bad taste in my mouth at the end of the talk.
Back to almost wedding stuff. My friend Kathy found this article, which is either really funny or terribly sad. Since I don't feel like crying today, I'm just going to laugh. And as Kathy said, maybe put $50 on the Greek Orthodox priest, I think he's carrying a staff. Think of the potential this has for the reception - we don't need no stinking DJs, we have one priest & two brothers from the Frs of Mercy. Maybe we can have a wrestling match in the middle of the dance floor. The possibilities are endless.
[Ed's note: And here I will apologize to my mother. For years she would correct me and end it with "people will think poorly of us." I never quite understood that until the last year. All I could think about as people shouted down O'Rourke was "My mother would've dragged me out by the arm and tanned my hide." Thanks Mom.]
Monday, September 27, 2004
eh...wisdom is overrated...
During a museum tour the guide explains, "Here you can see the beautiful statue of Athena...".
"Excuse me, madam," a visitor interjects. "Who is that man behind her? Is he her husband?"
"No, Athena wasn't married. She was the goddess of wisdom."
As much as I hate to admit it, apparently the whole wedding thing is starting to affect me. Last night I dreamt that I arrived at the Church on the wedding day only to find out that there were two other brides there who had just started their wedding ceremonies. I like to think that it's the result of watching Four Weddings and a Funeral this weekend and then eating middle eastern food at Aladdin's Eatery Sunday night. I am not going bridal...right?
P.S. The movie was really good!
