Today was Chris’s wedding dinner, the private gathering with close family and just a few friends. 😊
I was exhausted pretty much the whole day and not in an emotional space to want to be anywhere near a big social gathering, especially the gathering where I wouldn’t know over 90% of the people there. But, got a support the friends, especially his friends who have been facing similar things to what I’ve been facing. Chris I think is either 44 or 45 years old, and he’s never been married, and I’m pretty sure that Jody has never been married either, and I think they are basically the same age.
So… we’ll cross our fingers and hope maybe someday soon I can enjoy the same experience.
I woke up a little late today, sleeping in a little bit.
After getting up, since I didn’t really own clothes that were what I wanted to wear for Chris’s special dinner, my mom and I headed over to the Walmart supercenter by herriman, and while she shopped for other things, I grabbed myself a nice looking polo shirt.
After that, we headed back to Richard’s place where we spent pretty much the rest of the day there until the wedding dinner.
We chatted with Richard for a while during one of his work breaks, and I think maybe we ate a little bit of lunch? I don’t remember, honestly. Wish you’d went back to working, and I needed a nap, but I ended up just on my phone doing whatever it is that I was doing until it was time to head to Chris’s.
I left a little bit early, so I could find somewhere to change my clothes and touch up the facial hair a bit.
I parked at a church parking lot near the Airbnb where they were doing the big family dinner.
I was super nervous because I am not a socialite at all. I’m still quite shy socially, though nobody believes me. It takes a lot of effort to do the social things in those big situations where I don’t know anybody.
But, I wouldn’t miss that opportunity to go and support Chris.
The church that I parked at was just a block or so away, so I walked from the church parking lot, not wanting to have my ugly extendo Twinkie van be a site for sore eyes for everyone who pulled up after I did.
I arrived at the front yard of the Airbnb at the same time that Chris’s grandpa and Aunt showed up. His grandpa’s 98 years old, so I helped them get him up the ramp of the front porch into the house.
Once inside the house, I saw the only person that I actually recognized, Urie, one of Chris’s long time friends and roommates. I spent most of the evening chatting with him and with Chris’s younger brother. We had a great time talking about old days, as well as politics and all that good stuff. 🙂
Chris got there much later, and I finally met his bride to be. Super cool woman. They’re going to be fantastic together.
So we ate dinner and chatted, and chatted some more. Chris and Jodi were up at the table on the deck, and the rest of us we’re down below at several other tables.
After the meal, we all gathered inside a large room inside the house and shared our feelings and memories of Chris and Jodi. It was really cool to hear the stories and to see the incredible impact that Chris has had on his family, how much they love him, and how much she has done for so many people. It’s inspiring.
And honestly, it’s a little convicting. I haven’t been who I could have been for my family. I’m sure they would probably disagree with that, but I feel like I should do more.
We’ve never been a close family. There’s almost always some sort of drama, it seems, and we are so spread out all over the country that we rarely see each other.
When I see Chris and his family, I long for that kind of experience, both in the deep love that I can see between Chris and Jody, as well as the deep love between Chris and Jodi and their family members.
It’s just absolutely beautiful to see.
It makes me happy and sad at the same time. 🙃
I shared a story about an experience I had with him in Havasupai probably 15 years ago. I don’t want to take the time to relate the story right now. I wrote it down in the days following the experience. I’m hoping that I can find it, that I didn’t accidentally delete that with so much of the rest of my journal it got deleted back in 2011 or or whenever that was when I lost I think a couple years worth of journal to accidentally deleting it or losing the jump drive or something. I forgot exactly what it was. I think I accidentally deleted it.
Anyway, if I find that story, I’ll probably post it here as a separate post. It was an awesome experience.
After finishing up the little sharing session, I help them load up some tables and chairs and whatnot, and then they didn’t have room for the little portable piano/ keyboard thing, so I made room in my van, and we slid it in the back, along with the piano bench. I drove it over to Jodi’s house in South Jordan, and then I headed back to Richard’s house where I chatted with Mom for a little bit, had a little bit of soup, and headed to bed.
And now my journal is caught up! 🥳
😅
Lift the world.
~ stephen
Lift the World 