Old, New, Borrowed, Blue

Tomorrow is May Day, a holiday here in Belgium. These Belgians sure like their holidays. We've got two more to go in the month of May, one celebrating the ascension of Christ, and one celebrating Pentecost, which just so happens to fall on the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. Most of the western world will be off work that day, it appears. "Except for the Chinese and Indians," one local said, cheekily. "They will work for us."

But holidays also mean visitors, and so does spring! Lauri's parents roll into town today and will be here till Thursday. Some interns from the UK on the same programme as Lauri will be coming on Friday and staying till the following Wednesday. My sisters will come over the Pentecost weekend, the last weekend of May, and then the following weekend (the first weekend of June) my folks and the Dodsons will visit as a stop on their European tour. Whew.

We've set our wedding date as September 22 of this year and it will be in Chattanooga at New City Fellowship. Much has already been accomplished - sites confirmed, dresses chosen, preliminary invitation list drawn up. There's still much to be done, but my mother is gifted at setting priorities, and making sure we follow a timeline of sorts. Let's worry about nailing down a reception site BEFORE I concern myself with, say, how I will include blue in my outfit, referring to the old cliche. Speaking of which, I think I have or will fulfill all of these categories:

Something old: a garnet brooch from Lauri's mom
Something new: uhhh...my dress
Something borrowed: i hope to borrow earrings to match my brooch and ring
Something blue: maybe light blue flats, otherwise can my blue eyes count for this?

I am having a fun and rather amusing time planning this wedding, but all in all I am really looking forward to marriage and the humdrum of life to continue. I'm not one to turn the spotlight on myself, so in all honesty my wedding day could actually be quite difficult. Like my birthday, only a hundred times worse. Still, I look at it as an important milestone and ritual that will create a record to hold us accountable before God and others. I will relish it. It will be a party!

Engaged

Lauri rushed us out the door after the Good Friday service, as we were trying to make our dinner reservations. "What time did we reserve for?" I asked. "7:30," he replied. As it wasn't yet 7:00 I thought we were being a bit too hasty, but I said nothing.

We strolled through downtown from the church to the restaurant. Lauri quietly spoke of his childhood. He normally speaks nostalgically, so I thought nothing of it. He suddenly plopped us down on a bench in the square. I complained about a pain in my side. Without missing a beat, he asked me three questions: Will you accompany me tomorrow to buy a ring for our engagement? Will you honor me by agreeing to marry me? Will you take this brooch as a token?

I had barely responded in the affirmative when an adolescent gypsy boy approached and asked us where a certain street was. Lauri said he didn't know, but the boy persisted, and as he was doing this Lauri felt a tug on his satchel. He turned around and told the boy's friends that there was no money in there. They left as quickly as they came. It all happened rather quickly, and I was thinking, why is this happening now? We just got engaged and someone tried to rob us? The nerve!

We quickly recovered and decided we'd better leave the square to avoid any more unwanted encounters. We had a lovely dinner (duck for me, steak for him), complemented with slivovice, Australian shiraz, and hot chocolate with Bailey's. When we returned to Lauri's house we had a bottle of wine with his parents and then capped it off with some Napoleon brandy. We laughed and talked and called our families. It was a jolly evening.