Timothy’s wedding

Posted on August 16, 2010
Filed Under Family, Food is my weakness, Love is a many splendid thing, My Beliefs, Siblings, Weekend Excursions | 2 Comments

After seven long years of dating, Tim and Candace have tied the knot! It truly has been an emotional  and spectacular weekend.

The festivities began on Friday evening with the wedding rehearsal. The wedding was taking place at my church so we knew to meet in the sanctuary. The moment we walk in, I see this crazy haired kid in a tie dye shirt enthusiastically waving at me.  Not recognizing who it is, I try to ignore them and then hear them calling me name. I look at them a little longer and realize that it’s my cousin Kyle who I haven’t seen in about 8 years!

Kyle is 4 years younger than me and the youngest cousin on my father’s side of the family. He is so hysterical and I actually spend most of the weekend hanging out with him.  So the rest of the wedding rehearsal was uneventful. I was basically starving and ready for dinner, so once Timothy told me what he wanted me to do, I was counting down the minutes until we could eat! So around 6:30ish, we headed over to Serentea’s which is an adorable tea shop that is a personal favorite of my brother’s. Our table was of course the rowdiest being that it consisted only of Murphys. But anyway, if you have’t been to this little shop I highly recommend it. It has the cutest decor, AMAZING tea, and food to die for!

After dinner, the “kids”, aka anyone younger than 40, went to Max’s for a few drinks. My brother was on a mission to set me up with one of the attendants but it turns out the guy was a little creepy for me. Very nice guy but gave you a death stare when you spoke to him. My sister said she felt like he was sucking out her soul every time she talked to him. So yeah, that didn’t go anywhere! Anyway, my sister and I planned to hang out there for a bit but I figured we wouldn’t stay very long considering she isn’t 21 yet. Plus, my cousins Ellen and Jackson weren’t going to be there until later so we didn’t have anyone to talk to (my brothers friends are all ministers and don’t produce the most riveting conversations). So we ended up leaving and just calling it a night.

The next morning while I was still in bed, I heard a deep bark in the backyard. Now, we have three dogs, but they are little bitty and couldn’t bark that deep. I asked mom what was going on and she said one of Candace’s friends was keeping her 7 month old 60 pound dog  in our backyard because she couldn’t have it in a hotel room. Being a dog lover, my sister went outside that morning to play with him and then realized he was gone. She looked in our neighbor’s yard and saw him looking in their window! She screams for us to come outside and help her, so Tim and I quickly wake ourselves up and run outside. By the time we get out there, we see Emily on the ground and the puppy dragging her around . We help her up and she tells us the dog practically climbed back over the fence and pounced on her. An eventful way to begin my brother’s wedding day to say the least. Fast forward a few hours… Tim had told my sister and me to be at the church by 11:30 but told mom and dad to be there by 12. So there was a lot of tension starting off because no one actually knew what time we were supposed to get there. Plus, dad had to pick up one of the ministers (there were 3 leading the ceremony). We finally got there (20 minutes late according to my sister and me) and ended up sitting around for 45 minutes. Candace was still getting ready and we were missing several people. Around 12:30, Candace steps out of the bridal room wearing her gorgeous dress.

The next hour consisted of picture taking and trying to figure out where the heck Mama and Papa where. Around 1:30, we see Mama roll her wheelchair into the Parlor where we were waiting for the ceremony to begin. She has a “babysitter” with her. For those who don’t know, my grandmother has suffered from dementia for the past 5 years. My dad decided he was not going to let his mother ruin his son’s wedding day and that we would let someone else have the responsibility of taken are of her if she has an episode. Anyway, as soon as she enters the parlor, the entire room goes silent. We aren’t sure if she is going to know who any of us are or where she is. Tim greets her and tells her that he is so happy that she could attend his wedding. She told him it was going to be a very special day and she didn’t want to miss it (yes, I teared up). Shortly after, my grandmother’s sister enters the room with her attendant. It took a few minutes for Mama to realize it was Aunt Christine but when she did, we had an incredible moment

Finally, it was showtime! Now if you know my brother, he is not a traditional kind of fellow. He ended up wearing an Indian style get up (I have no idea what it is called) that was white with gold embroidery. And his hair was in a bun. Honestly, I would have been disappointed if would have worn a tux. The ceremony was also very unique. Tim believes that a marriage should be a union between you, your partner and God, so he had a worship service for his wedding.  When my family entered the sanctuary, my grandfather called out, “look what the the cat dragged in!” He can’t hear very well so he thought he was whispering but really everyone in the sanctuary could hear him and giggled. We began by singing “I Was There to Hear your Bourning Cry” which is a beautiful hymn. Afterwords, one of Tim’s friends led a call to worship and Emily and I read a couple of scriptures (No, it wasn’t Love is patient blah blah blah). Mine was about how God created a rainbow as a covenant to us and Emily read something from the book of Ruth.

Once my part was complete, I lost it. And it wasn’t just tearing up, it was sobbing! All I could think about was how 8 years ago, we weren’t sure if my brother would even make it to 20 (he had cancer). I just kept thinking how lucky we were to still have him in our lives and now here he was getting married! You could really see the love they have for each other too. He kept caressing her hand and she kept staring at him. It was beautiful. The homily came next, which made me cry more and then came the vows. I really didn’t stand a chance as far as not crying goes! The ceremony continued with prayer blessings (you write a prayer that is directed towards the couple) and communion. We ended in prayer and exited the sanctuary.  (Mama had to leave about 5 minutes after the ceremony began because she was yelling out, “Where am I? I want to go home!”)

We continued the celebration by going to the fellowship hall and eating lots of cake!  The only traditional thing that really occurred was the bouquet toss which my brother helped her throw. Some demon child came out of nowhere and grabbed the bouquet before anyone even had a chance to think (the pic is priceless, just look at my sister and my face). Oh and of course there were lots and lots of bubbles.

Once we cleaned everything up from the reception, various family members went over to our house for a family dinner. Being that my cousins and myself are still the youngest in the fam, we were considered the kids table. Of course, we were the loudest (probably because we drank the most wine) and broke out into song every 5 minutes or so. Candace and Tim opened a few more presents after dinner and then headed on their way to a bed and breakfast. I loved everything about this weekend. I saw a lot of family members that I hadn’t seen in years and ate more food than should be legal. I am so happy for my brother and his new beautiful wife. I could not ask for a better addition to the family and am proud to call her my new sister!!

I am beyond annoyed…

Posted on July 17, 2010
Filed Under Just keep spinning!, Life Can Suck, Teaching | 3 Comments

Sorry for the long absence but I warned you guys that I was going to be super busy this summer with little time to blog! Since I have had such a busy summer, I have had little time to do many of the things I needed to do.

Which leads to… Erin Cecile’s Annoyances for the Summer

1. I have had ZERO job interviews. Normally in the summer, I will apply for a school district, visit the KY teacher openings website, visit the principal at schools that are opened nad bring my resume, call principals and see if they have began interview, email them my resume just in case they lost the first one, call again and finally visit the school one more time just so they remember my face. Doing this gets me at least 5 interviews. Unfortunately, I have not been as persistent due to my schedule so it has been rather frustrating to say the least. Yesterday, I went to visit one of the schools that I had already visited once, called twice, and emailed twice and the principal was in the middle of interviewing. I left my resume walked out the door and busted out into tears. I think I cried for about an hour. That school was seriously my last hope at a job this year. I would not be so frustrated  and upset if it wasn’t for the simple fact that people who don’t deserve the job are getting them over me.  Seriously, I have talked with these teachers and they are the ones who only want to teach so they can have the summers off, it’s convenient for childcare, or they think kids are “cute”.  What about the teachers who are passionate about teaching? What about the teachers who have been playing classroom in the bedroom since they were five years old? What about the teachers who you never see sitting at their desk but always working with the students? WHAT ABOUT ME? I may not have all of the connections as these other teachers but my entire heart is in teaching. Even now, I spend countless hours on the internet looking at new strategies nad teaching tools because I want to be the best possible teacher I can be. I just don’t understand what I am doing wrong…

2. Friends who are constantly trying to hook me up. Yes, I am aware that I am single and have been for the past four years. Although I would love to meet someone, you telling me to make out with every guy I talk to is not helping. In fact, it is quite obnoxious. I am not a sorority girl looking for a good time.  When I meet someone and want to make out with them, you will be the first to know. I promise.

3. Being 25 and living with the parents. True, it has been nice for the most part. But when I am constantly being scolded to clean up my room or make my bed, I get a little fed up. Plus, if I need your help to look for a job I will be sure to let you know. Get off my back about what schools have openings. I most likely have already looked into it or am not interested in that particular location. And thanks for offering to help with the guard mom, but I can really do this by myself. This is not the same program that it used to be  and can’t be approached in the same manner. I love you both but I like my independence and don’t need someone around me all the time. I am perfectly happy working on things in my room instead of together ALL the time. It’s been 100x worse since mom quit her job. I have to drive her everywhere and she always wants to do things together. I love spending time with her but I need me time!

I am not even sure if half of these complaints made sense but I don’t really care. Ahh, I feel better now