Glitches

All weddings have glitches. I don't think it's possible to get through an event so large and multifaceted without a surprise or two coming up that catches you off guard. During the past six weeks, we have contemplated what those glitches might be. "What major thing have we forgotten to do?" we wondered. Still, we didn't stress much over the possible glitches. Instead, we kept our eyes on the temple. Whenever we began to feel stress, we said to each other, "Hey, the temple appointment is made. And really, that's the only thing that matters. Everything else is fluff. It's good fluff, but it's still fluff."

And in the end, we had very few glitches. I am amazed by how smoothly and perfectly everything fell into place. That said, allow me to share some of the tiny glitches of the past week.

As most of you know, I flew down to Salt Lake City Tuesday evening, three days before the wedding. My job was to buy all the last-minute things, and the list was long. Wednesday, I was busy with shower dessert preparation (which, by the way, turned out great; shocking, I know, when you consider my total lack of culinary skill.) So Thursday was the day to attack the list. I spent the morning in Shulamith's kindergarten class class, but after lunch she sent me off with the list. And directions. Keep in mind that I have little experience driving in Salt Lake City. This was my 16th visit in the 5-1/2 years Shulamith has been in Salt Lake, but typically, she does all the driving, and I pay no attention whatsoever. So she sent me out with directions to Costco which was about five minutes from her school and to Walmart right next door. Ack! What was I to do? I DO NOT shop at Walmart. I find Walmart's politics abhorrent and its treatment of employees even worse. I choose not to spend my money there. However, in this situation, what choice did I have? I needed things, I had little time, and I had no idea how to find another store.

I held my nose and entered Walmart where I proceeded to purchase 25 two-liter bottles of pop, fifteen Diet Coke and ten regular. This filled up my cart, making it quite heavy. Then I picked up an ironing board with which to iron the 100 chair covers that were folded up in tiny shrink-wrap packages. (At the time I had no idea that Matt and his family would ultimately take care of 90% of that ironing.) I loaded the ironing board across the cart on top of all the pop and headed for the check-out line. After paying, I left the store, only to find that I had no clue where I had parked the car. Balancing the ironing board with one hand and pushing the heavy cart with the other, I began circling the parking lot searching for Shulamith's car. Struggling to remain positive, but failing miserably, I continued for about 15 minutes. Oh, did I mention it was pouring rain? Now I love rain. You all know that. Still, in this particular situation, not so much. I was pretty sure this was karma, the result of selling out and shopping at Walmart. Nearly in tears (that happens a lot lately), I eventually found the car. Glitch #1 was over.

After Walmart, I went to Costco to buy cream puffs and quick bread. I got the cream puffs with no problem, but those cute little loaves of quick bread were nowhere to be found. When I inquired at the bakery, I was told they are a specialty holiday item only, but they offered to bake some for me for the following day. "Great!" I thought. They would be nice and fresh. I ordered 16 loaves of various types of quick break and left. The next day (wedding day!) a friend of Matt's mom went to pick up the bread and was told there was no order under my name. Panic? Maybe a little, but I was sure the bread had to be there because the bakery staff was so helpful the day before and so careful about the order. To this day I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I think the problem involved a non-English-speaking Costco employee, so some language barriers. In any case, the bread was found, and glitch #2 solved.

Glitch #3 came outside the temple after the sealing ceremony. After taking family pictures, the photographer took Shulamith and Matt to do their couples' pictures by themselves. Most people left, but I wanted to stay and help Shulamith change out of her wedding gown. This meant standing outside the temple for at least another hour, and my family and Lindsey waited with me. As you know, Seth is not known for his patience. What nine-year-old is, right? As he grew progressively more impatient, his behavior deteriorated accordingly. Frustrated, I whispered in his ear, "I do not want to hear any more of this, Seth." Perhaps I was too firm. Gentleness always trumps firmness. I know that. But well, I'm human. In any case, Seth was angry and decided to run away. No, I'm not kidding. He decided to run away at the temple. On his sister's wedding day. I didn't give it much thought at first, but after maybe 20 minutes, we all began to wonder where he might be. "Do you think he would leave the temple grounds?" someone asked. That was enough to raise my anxiety level and send everyone out on a search and rescue mission. It took maybe five minutes for Gerald to find Seth hiding under a tree near where Shulamith and Matt were finishing their photos. Glitch #3.

Later that evening was the Utah reception, and it was truly lovely. Everything was moving along as planned right up until it was time to cut the wedding cake. Shulamith and Matt cut the first piece and fed each other the traditional first bites. Then they looked around and said, "Hmmm. I wonder who will cut the rest." I had mentioned to Shulamith that she should ask someone to cut and serve cake, maybe even two people, but that had slipped her mind in all the other wedding rush. Think quick, Terrianne! I went over to the table where our few Billings friends were seated and saw Trudy. "Trudy, do you know how to cut a wedding cake?" I said almost pleadingly. She said she had done it before and would be happy to try. Glitch #4 solved? Ahh, not quite. As Trudy began to cut the cake and put individual pieces on plates, my mother came to me and said, "We have no forks for the cake." Really? How did we mange to forget those? Well, you see, we were serving only "finger food." Eclairs. Cream puffs. Quick bread. All finger food. It simply didn't occur to either of us that we were also serving wedding cake, so we would need forks. I ran to the kitchen and scooped up a bunch of metal forks. Glitch #4 was over.

A week later at the reception here in Billings, there were no real glitches that come to mind. We remembered to buy forks, and Trudy graciously offered to cut the cake once again. No glitches, unless you count a weepy mother-of-the-bride struggling to maintain her composure after a frenzied week, well really a frenzied six weeks! I can't begin to tell you what an emotional experience it is to marry off your only daughter and best friend. I still feel it. It's almost like being postpartum only I have no hormonal excuse.

Anyway, no real glitches until the following day when Isaiah tried to return to Salt Lake City. His flight was scheduled to leave Billings at 1:40 but was delayed nearly three hours due to "facilities" (whatever that means). As a result, he missed his connecting flight in Denver. The two later flights to SLC were completely full, so they gave Isaiah a hotel voucher and scheduled him on a flight this morning (Monday) at 11:00. We only knew this because he was somehow able to find a computer and get on Facebook to tell us. He had left his phone charger in his dorm all weekend, so he didn't have a charged phone to use while traveling. As hour after hour went by and we didn't hear from him, this already-emotional mother was losing it. Seriously. I was sure we'd never find him, and I pictured us on TV, pleading for someone to "bring back our son!" As Gerald scoured the internet for phone numbers, I called every hotel near the airport, one by one, asking if Isaiah was there. No luck. Crying uncontrollably, I began to dial my mom. I had been unable to get anyone at the Denver Airport or United Airlines to help me, but if anyone could do that, my mother could. Before she had a chance, though, the other phone rang and it was Isaiah, safely in his hotel room. Instant relief.

Glitches. What would a wedding be without a few?