The Wedding

The wedding has taken place, and it was lovely.

Jocelyn was a lovely bride and the day was beautiful. Jocelyn is the daughter of Walt's sister's husband (got that?), so I guess our step-niece. We've gotten to know her over the past several years that we have bedded down at Alice Nan & Joe's when visiting Santa Barbara and have watched her mature from a teenager into a beautiful woman.

She and David are very religious, very active in their church. They are both missionaries, and Jocelyn has worked in Thailand over the summers. David's family are all missionaries and he went to--it may have been Honduras--last summer (they felt it would be too great a temptation to go on a mission together, until they were married). One of his brothers, in fact, came to the wedding from Serbia, where he has been working for the past several months.

This missionary/religious background explains the reading of the "wives being subservient to their husbands" passage from the Bible, but many of us kind of raised eyebrows at that. I can't remember the last time I've heard that at a wedding!

However, I'm getting ahead of the story.

The day started with meeting Norm & Olivia for breakfast in the Maravilla dining room. We sat and talked for over an hour and were among the last to leave. Fortunately, this being a senior citizen residence and the dining room open all day long, nobody tried to rush us out.

Then Walt and Norm went to the hospital to bring their mother home, while I went off to the beach to try to catch Tom, Laurel and Bri (but just missed them). By the time I got home, the hospital group was back and I went to Grandma's apartment. She looked positively chipper, very definitely not the person in the hospital bed the day before. It was good to see her looking so strong. She even made it to the bathroom, using her walker, with minimal help. We felt just fine about leaving her alone, with her caregivers, to go to the wedding.

The wedding was held at the Figueroa Farmhouse, about an hour's drive out of Santa Barbara, up in the hills. To get there you pass the gates to the Neverland Ranch (which still has Michael Jackson worshippers stopping by the leave messages). I didn't want to be tacky enough to admit curiosity, but I did snap a picture as we drove by.

The last couple of miles are over a pretty rugged, winding road and then suddenly you're there in this gorgeous setting.

The parking lot was a schlep down to where all the activity was taking place, but I've discovered that since Europe, my new mantra or affirmation or whatever is "I survived Florence; I can do this!" And I did.

It was predicted to be in the mid-90s and they had prepared for the heat, with parasols and fans for anybody who wanted it, along with bottled water.

Fortunately, there was a cool breeze which kept us all from getting overheated.

Joe wasn't a proud papa or anything!

The ceremony took place overlooking a beautiful canyon and was very meaningful to Jocelyn and David. The minister had known Jocelyn most of her life.

Brianna was very good through the ceremony (and, indeed, throughout the day)

While we waited (interminably, it seemed!) for photos to be taken, Laurel and I walked Bri down to see the Farmhouse goats, goats being her favorite animal at the moment.

There was a lovely buffet and then, of course, dancing

Instead of a wedding cake, there was wedding pie.

Bri even let me hold her for a couple of minutes.

And then, when Jocelyn and David took off for Pismo Beach and the start of their honeymoon, we made it down the long winding road and back to Santa Barbara. As we came up on Neverland Ranch again, we proved that we were that tacky and got out to take photos after all.