The End of the 2006 Wedding Marathon

It's Sunday night, October 15, and the 2006 wedding extravaganza is officially over, assuming none of my friends decide on any shotgun wedding before Christmas. The past four trips to Iowa have been centered around Saturday afternoon festivities that involve lifelong commitment and tasty cake.

In July I witnessed Mindy Lawrence become Mrs. Eric Chrisman. In August, Greta Ackerman became Greta Zude. Two weeks ago, at the tail end of September, Wendy became Mrs. Fedler. And yesterday afternoon, at 1:30 in the afternoon, under a tent in Middle Amana, my Kristie became Mrs. Yoder (let's try to confuse Amana with the Amish even more, shall we?). Yes, there is now a Mr. Kristie in my life, who's actual name is Bill, and he looked just pleased as punch to have that wonderful lady become his wife. She was beautiful, the children were charming, the fall weather was crisp but beautiful, and the love of God filled that tent, and the wind was there to prove it.

Their wedding truly is a testament to the FACT that you NEVER know what's around the corner, something I constantly try to remind my control-freak nature about. Kristie and Bill met on a blind date Memorial Day weekend. THIS Memorial Day weekend. I talked to her that Monday, and she said, "I love him and I'm convinced I'll be spending the rest of my life with him." This was four days after they met, I believe. At the beginning of July, I called Kristie to confirm a breakfast date, only for her to spew out, "I got engaged!" And now yesterday they were married, by her brother, in her parents' backyard, with their children surrounding them. And it was a beautiful, unexpected site.

You never know what can happen in a day.