At 3:05 on Sunday afternoon, Kimberly and her father Osman walked down the aisle of Rolando United Methodist Church (as Lake Murray was too small). Keith and I have known Osman and his wife Debbie for at least ten years at Lake Murray, and they accompanied us to Kauai a few years ago. Both of their children, Kimberly and Dylan, have been missionaries to East Asia, and we've supported Kim on her first trip. Before each trip, Kim drove up the mountain to our home for dinner and to present her ministry to our kids, who have been faithful in praying for her during her years in East Asia. After her first trip, she brought us back a pretty little round enameled dish and some bamboo placemats. After the last trip, she brought the kids chopsticks.
So it was with sheer joy that the kids and I watched Kimberly walk down the aisle on Osman's arm. We had been busy before the wedding; over at the reception hall at the La Mesa Community Center, E and I had helped place boxes of folded red cloth napkins on the creamy tablecloths. The boys helped put small chocolates at each of the 300 settings and later helped place small bubble containers at each setting as well. T helped to get a bubble toy working that blows 4,000 bubbles a minute which indeed provided a bubblicious goodbye to Kim and Paul as they ran to the decorated car after the reception. So after an hour-and-a-half of helping decorate the thirty tables, we ushered ourselves to the church ten minutes away.
We slid into a pew right behind Dr. Burns (my chiropractor and also Kim's as well), his wife, and his receptionist who has become a good friend of ours during the almost seven years that I've been seeing Dr. Burns. The thirty minutes before the wedding party started floating down the aisle flew by as we chatted together. But soon the guitarist and singers changed songs and the wedding party emerged, the guys in black tuxes, the girls in long champagne-colored strapless satin gowns. Then Kimberly and Osman appeared, Kim glowing and Osman vainly attempting to hold back tears.
It was a lovely wedding as they were married by John Hilton, once a Lake Murray associate pastor who now has his own church. The three lovely Rossitto girls made up the majority of the bridesmaids (including Andrea, the maid of honor), and their tiny sister, Wendy, was an adorable flower girl as she held Andrea's hand down the aisle. The two small ringbearers were adorably mischievous. E and I both loved Kimberly's dress -- so simple and classically elegant.
The reception was really fun -- we sat again with the Burnses and Dana and chatted while waiting for the wedding party to arrive. Once they did, we enjoyed a simple supper of chicken salad sandwiches, green salad, and fruit. Then the music started, and E and I were out on the dance floor for a few numbers, including "Love Shack" and "Dancing Queen" -- the latter very appropriate after just seeing Mamma Mia! on Friday. Can Osman and Dylan ever dance! Woo-hoo! E and I danced with Bonnie, a former Class Day student of mine and a former Sunday School teacher for the kids who is now living in Hollywood and is doing extras work on different TV shows (House, ER, Monk, Chuck, Law & Order, etc.) and films. She was complimented on her dancing while filming a high school reunion show of Chuck, and she was really fun to dance near. Whew! Talk about exercise! E and I helped get the cake slices out to the serving table while T helped remove the flowers from the cake earlier. At the end, we all blew bubbles as the happy couple left -- trailing bubbles in the twilight evening as they drove away in Kim's car. Aaaah, young love!
It was a long and tiring day, but joyful and great fun, too. We reported for duty at the reception hall at 1:00 PM after being at church from 9:00 AM - noon (and grabbing a quick Taco Bell lunch after church) and finally left the reception hall at 8:40 PM. We were gone from home for nearly thirteen hours, but all the work and energy expended was well-worth giving Kim the wedding of her dreams.
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