Friday, September 19, 2008

The Wedding Went Off Without a Hitch! Er....well, just one hitch.

It's weird to think, but I've been married for almost a week now. It's a good feeling.

I would like to thank so much all of those who helped with the wedding, and all of those who traveled to be there.

The wedding ceremony and reception went better than I could have hoped. I played the processional on my guitar (an arrangement of Israel Kamakawio'ole's medley of Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World), and am told that I did all right. I'm not sure whether it was recognizable as Somewhere Over the Rainbow, but it was well-received. My first performance in front of a crowd!

Christine pushed her father down the aisle in his wheel chair, and Eddie's brothers and sisters certainly found that touching.

Christine's sister, Carla, also made it through the ceremony without giving birth, although there is now some concern about the baby (still to be born), so prayers for both mother and baby would be appreciated.

David Gabruch, whom some of you will know, performed the ceremony. Thank you so much Dave, it really meant a lot for you to be there.

The reception went well. The food was excellent, mostly prepared by Christine's mother and her family, but the catered roast beef was also very good. My mother and aunts were kind enough to prepare assorted dainties, which were also well received.

The speeches were kept short and sweet, with toasts to the bride (delivered by a good friend of Christine's, Sara), and groom (delivered by my best man, Bryan; thanks very much Bryan, you did great), as well as a welcome to the family on each side, by Christine's brother Kirk and my sister Jen, respectively. Jen's speech was also very good, concluding that Christine and I are suited to one another because we, "are almost equally silly."

I prepared the song list for the dance, which was challenging as I needed to include a good distribution of various genres for the different groups present, including rock, country and fiddle music, but everyone seemed to have a good time, and it was sometimes surprising who danced to what. Many of Christine's aunts and uncles, some who are in there 70s, were showing up the younger people on the dance floor, and I noticed Gary and Suzanne, parents of my good friend Chris, sure know how to dance!

Christine and I also had two pinatas at the wedding, one for us, and one for the kids. We had the "wacking of the pinata" in place of the "cutting of the cake", which really made the reception our own. The kids enjoyed their pinata as well, especially the bouncy balls I put in along with the candy!

Right now I only have one picture from the wedding on my computer, although I hope to be getting more in the near future, so I'll just leave you with this one for now.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Musings from a Matt

Well, here I sit. A week from today I am getting married. Work is crazy busy (I was the first person into the office yesterday, and the last person to leave, for example), and I'm going to the bush on Monday, only to come back Wednesday so that I can go to Hudson Bay on Thursday, so that I can get married on Saturday.

My masters is not done. There were some unfortunate delays, but it will get done.

I found out a couple of weeks back that I won't be moving on further in the astronaut selection process. C'est la vie. At least I tired. Oops...Freudian slip. That should be "tried."

I have a cold. I'm hoping I can get over it by the wedding.

In a week I will be surrounded by family and loved ones, and by the end of that day I will have a wife. There will be both good and stressful parts to that day, but when it's all said and done we will have celebrated with family and friends, and then we can start building a life together...as soon as we can manage to both be in the same place.

Christine will be joining me in Saskatoon sometime around late September-early October, and I just hope I can be there to greet her, as it sounds like I'm going to be spending more time in the field in the coming months than I had anticipated.

For those not able to join us in Hudson Bay, you will be missed, and I'll be thinking of you.

See some of you in a week!

-Matt