"The wedding of H. Roice Nelson, III and Sarah Elizabeth Nemec became a big deal. I'm still not exactly sure why, nor how, and I did my best to simply go with the flow. Possibly someday I will find the words to write about my feelings, about the emotions behind the moment. For now, it seems best to say I thought the wedding and reception were extremely nicely done, and together they created an absolutely wonderful evening.
There were a few other things which happened this week, and because it was so long ago (this is being written March 6th, two months after the event), I am confused on some of the timings. I believe it was Monday that Grant and Ella and Paul and Kate got in a canoe in Columbus, Matt got in a kayak, and Andrea and I got in another canoe and floated around the Colorado river loop just north of I-10. It was a long trip for the little kids. In the end I think they had a good time. It was especially fun to watch Grant discover the fossils at the place where we landed and took out the canoes and kayak. There are 50 digital photos and 3 digital movies at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/ColoradoCounty/060104_Colorado_River. To a visual person like me, they tell the story of our adventure better than attempting to find a bunch of words.
Tuesday the 3rd of January I went into the office for a meeting with Rick Zimmerman and Dave Johnson. It didn't happen. I was/am disappointed how this discussion has gone the way of all of my attempts to get out of the financial tunnel I've been in for the last decade (../0215.html). Oh well! Luis Viertel was in the office. He had spent Christmas in Spain. He brought Mike Dunn a small print of a liberal modern painting, probably Salvador Dali. He brought me three little brass statues: a windmill, Don Quixote, and Sancho Panza. I have really come to like Luis over the last couple of years. It is sometimes hard for me to remember how I attempted to get Mike Dunn to hire Riley Skeen for the position Luis now has. Luis' understanding of the Pemex culture, as well as the language, have been the key to the 5 year contract GDC is close to signing with Pemex. And it is obvious how well Luis does at understanding the core nature of a liberal Mike Dunn and an idealistic conservative Roice Nelson, along with my ongoing tilting at windmills. There was also a conversation with Les Denham on Tuesday, which quote resulted in a possible stanza for Prime Words:
I think this is the first stanza I have written in my office at GDC. Dave left for Norway and then for China Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. He was in China by the time I got back to work the following Monday, the 9th of January, and I ended up spending several weeks supporting promises he made while he was in China. And the Chinese relationship issues have steadily gone downhill ever since this very positive visit by Dave in January. Oh well! Once again, being behind I get ahead of myself.
One of the most important things of this week was when Paul put up a night light in the carport that automatically turns on when we go out there. In case you didn't know, this was one of our Christmas presents from all of you, and EVERY MORNING when I go out to get in my car and drive down to the Galleria it comes on and I say thanks to each of you for this thoughtful and practical gift. THANKS AGAIN!
Wednesday we had a family day at the Museum of Natural History. It was fun to go see the butterflies with Grant and Ella (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/03_PaulKate/060104_Butterfly_Museum). I got pretty good at getting a butterfly on my hands. Rachel seemed to like it. Paul and family went to see the IMAX movie Bugs, and then they went to meet someone else. Matt and I went to see the Mummy, while Rachel and Andrea went to see Princess Diane. Then we met and it seems like we went to an IMAX movie. After this the four of us went out to eat. I couldn't find the Italian Restaurant I thought I knew was close to The Village. Oh well! We went to Hungary's, and everyone seemed to like their gryo. Then we came back and watched another IMAX movie on India. It was a very nice family day.
Almost all of the rest of the week was taken up with the wedding of H. Roice Nelson, III and Sarah Elizabeth Nemec. To provide some context, I decided to include some e-mails which came as part of the planning process. Maybe someone will pick up a `best practice' from this correspondence, for anticipated future weddings.
In October the following e-mail arrived:
My response the next day stated:
The next day came this e-mail from Roice:
In November, there was an invitation to Sarah Elizabeth's wedding shower (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/01_RoiceSarah/060106_Roice+Sarah/Wedding_Shower_Invite.jpg). The shower was by Simonton in Fulshur (../0547.html), and I have described this nice evening in the referenced Thoughtlet.
Next came the the wedding announcement (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/01_RoiceSarah/060106_Roice+Sarah_Wedding/Wedding_Announcement.jpg). Classy. Wedding announcements say a lot, both in what is written and what is left blank.
Then in December there was this e-mail:
I responded to this e-mail later the same evening with:
This e-mail was followed a couple of days later by this e-mail:
And then another e-mail followed later the same day with:
A very short while later this e-mail was followed by:
Hopefully these e-mails give a bit of context to what lead up to the wedding of H. Roice Nelson, III and Sarah Elizabeth Nemec. In general, there was a very good spirit about the various activities. Everyone seemed to strive to get along. Everyone was polite and nice to each other. Andrea and I rolled up our sleeves and helped, and there was sincere appreciation for what little we were able to help.
The actual events started when we drove to Austin Thursday afternoon, and arrived about an hour before the wedding rehearsal. We checked into the Courtyard by Marriott on I-35, got Matt and Rachel sort of settled, and headed off for the rehearsal.
I was impressed with the Pastor. He was a young man, and very Baptist. Had a good sense of humor, and used it well to keep the events light and full of good humor. My favorite thing about the wedding was his words during the rehearsal and then repeated during the wedding ceremony. He was certainly not preaching Baptist doctrine, and the spirit bore witness to me he was teaching a basic truth. He stated with no reservation, that Sarah and Roice had selected each other before the worlds were created and that this wedding was part of God's plan for them throughout the eternities. I don't have the words as nicely as he said them, and what I heard was that Sarah Elizabeth and Roice originally found each other in the preexistence (pre-earth life as spirit children of our common Heavenly Father), and were foreordained to to find each other, to get married, and to be a family unit through the eternities. The Pastor's words put my heart and mind at ease, and the spirit bore witness this public wedding was a good thing. The rehearsal went well, and we went back to The Courtyard by Marriott for the rehearsal dinner.
It turns out Sarah Elizabeth's mom loves pink flamingos. Because of Andrea's walking ladies, the pink flamingo has been a key icon at our house for several years now (for example ../0504.html). It also turns out that it was Sarah Elizabeth's Mom's birthday. So there was this interesting pink flamingo birthday cake for after the rehearsal dinner. There were more people than anticipated, and Andrea and I sat on the fireplace brickwork with the Pastor and his wife to eat. The dinner was very good. It was a nice evening. The pink flamingo cake was a lot of fun. We had good conversations, and everything seemed to go as close to perfect as the framework allowed, at least from my view. It is obvious to me that Paulette Nemec understands what an outstanding and special young man Roice is, and is very pleased to see this wedding occur.
The next morning we took Rachel and Matt to eat breakfast at The International House of Pancakes. Matt can sure eat a lot of pancakes! Later on we went over to the wedding hall, where helped decorate. Sara Ellyn worked with me and we hung purple lanterns between all of the air vents. It looked nice. It was fun to watch Sara Ellyn figure out what looked the best, and make sure everything was done just right. Sara, you can be very intense! I think you come by this naturally, as folks have told me I am also sometimes intense. Especially when sometimes involves one or more of my 10 kids are. We were hanging some of the blue lanterns outside on the trees, and the ladder was in a somewhat unsure place. Andrea was making a big deal about me getting on the ladder, I and I told her to just go away, if she didn't want to watch. The grounds-man stood on the ladder and provided support, and after I got down, he said, `There is a lot of love in what you just did.' It made my eyes tear up, because it put into words what I was feeling.
After helping with the decorating, we went back to the Courtyard by Marriott, changed, got Rachel and Matt, and went back over to Mercury Hall for the actual wedding. The program that was handed out was very nice (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/01_RoiceSarah/060106_Roice+Sarah_Wedding/060106_Program.jpg). One of the harder parts of the evening was standing still while Robbye Chloe Sharp Jackson (I don't know her new last name???) pinned a boutonniere on my suit jacket. Just after this - while we were standing in back of the building waiting to be brought up the stairs, taken inside, walked to the front, and seated - Sarah Elizabeth's Dad accidentally stepped on a pvc hose connection, broke it off, and had a stream of water shoot up his leg. It was funny, and I'm glad it wasn't me.
Colby was so cute walking in as the ring bearer. I was to take a video with Roice's camera, Andrea took mpeg movies with my little digital camera, and we attempted to keep Colby from being to disruptive to the ceremony. Actually he did very good. It was just hard to get him candy and keep the video going at the same time when he left the wedding party and came to sit on my lap.
Anyway, during this video was my second favorite part of the wedding of H. Roice Nelson, III and Sarah Elizabeth Nemec. It was their vows. I wrote these out from the video because I liked the vows so much:
The `as long as we live' part tears at my heart strings, and I realize the story isn't finished yet. After the ceremony, as we were about to be escorted out, Marti's dress caught one of the 3 foot tall glass tubes holding candles, tipped it over on the hardwood floor, and it shattered. Another embarrassing moment, I'm glad wasn't me. The other part of the evening that was particularly hard for me was when Marti's `friend' attempted to make small talk about knowing people from Cedar City. It was hard watching kids I have done my best to love and to raise showing more affection for this individual than they did for me. Oh well! Such are the trials of a sinner, like me, and hopefully it is mostly my perception and my paranoia.
Other than the positive and negative emotional spikes I've mentioned, the evening went extremely well. Mike and Marion Pickerd drove up to Austin from Katy. Ron and Linda Burgerner, as well as Tyler and Shelly Burgerner were in attendance. It was great to catch up. Ron is a Bishop now. Tyler is thinking about taking a new job, and wanted to talk it through with me. The meal was fabulous. We were sitting next to the Burgerners while we were eating. One of Sarah and Roice's friends who is a sports reporter for the Austin newspaper started asking questions. We had one of those very interesting - at least to me - 30 minute conversations that covered the price of oil, oil and gas supply, global warming, alternative energy, thermal chimneys, the need to change the way we build our houses, and a series of related topics that are right in the middle of where my mind lives. He kept asking questions and I kept answering. His girlfriend left, the Pickerds and the Burgerners got bored and turned away, and the two of us just kept on talking. It was neat, and Roice was pleased when I told him about it. I wonder if he even remembers the conversation?
The rubic cube groom cake was wonderful. However, I never did get around to eating any of it. It was so much fun to watch Colby dance with the little girl who was also a ring bearer. They did twirls, and all kinds of moves. I had wrapped up 498 $1 dollar bills between two $100 dollar bills with a $20 in the middle, and gave it to Sarah Elizabeth in exchange for a dance. This is a Nemec family tradition Roice had prepped me for. It was fun to watch Sarah's expression when I offered her the cash sandwich. I also got to dance with Melanie, Sara Ellyn, Audrey, Rachel, and Andrea. I felt fat and ugly, and you were all still nice to me. I took 86 digital photos and 6 mpg movies over the course of the evening's events (http://www.walden3d.com/photos/Family/01_RoiceSarah/060106_Roice+Sarah_Wedding), and maybe they will make up for the words I do not find to describe how nice the evening was.
Roice planned a very classy exit in a Rolls Royce. I've never been that close to a Rolls Royce before, even though people have always linked the car with my name. I think Sara Ellyn helped set this up and where Roice and Sarah stayed for the first couple of nights through her friend Joshua and her work as a cook at the Drexel Hotel. After Roice and Sarah Elizabeth left, we helped clean everything up, including getting the ladders back out and taking down all of the purple lanterns we had put up earlier in the day. Even this part was fun. It was probably about 10:30 when the four of us got in the gray Saturn and headed back to Houston.
I was tired on Saturday. And we still took Matt to see `The Chronicles of Narnia.' Good movie! Great book! Needs to be in our permanent movie collection! (And I don't say this often these days.) The movie was very well done, and I love the underlying theme of our Savior's love for us. Hopefully someday you will each realize this is the same theme behind my writing these notes, and my worrying and praying for each of you each day. And from my perspective, it is worth the effort when there are positive family events like the wedding of H. Roice Nelson, III and Sarah Elizabeth Nemec."
