Big Brother

Last Friday I went to a wedding of a dear friend that I know through the fencing team. Though I know she had anticipated otherwise, she and her husband had a traditional Catholic wedding ceremony. The last such ceremony I remember attending is my uncle's wedding when I was about 8 years old. So I had no idea what was going on. It was good, however, and I enjoyed it. This post is basically so I can brag about my older brother.

I didn't want to go alone. Who wants to go alone to a wedding? Robin asked me to invite a "guest," and I felt too awkward to ask any of the single guys I know. Except for Mike. He agreed to go with me. We were a bit late (sorry, Mike...I should have given more warning), but we rode in his sweet Barneymobile and didn't get lost. During the ceremony we traded snickers and glances as things happened that we didn't know about...when are we supposed to kneel? To stand? What do we sing? Ironically, I knew the Latin responses to Mass, and almost said them.

After the ceremony we decided to follow someone to the reception. After going FAR AWAY from where we knew we were generally supposed to head, we figured that the person we were following wasn't actually going to the reception! Heh. So we got there an hour after leaving the church (the wedding party beat us there!). Mike was a trooper. We arrived, and he brought me drinks and seemed interested in meeting my friends. We sat at a table full of fencers (all of whom I knew and he didn't know many), and random people would come and say hi to Chris. Kim would hang out, which was cool. She and I danced West Coast swing, trading the lead parts, for one song.

Mike and I gorged ourselves on cookies (a tradition in these parts, I'm told) and conversed with Chris' wife. I've never been able to talk to her for an extended period of time until then, so I learned a lot about her. I think we were the first ones to leave. But that's OK. I think he was as disinterested in getting drunk as I was. Plus, neither one of us knew what to do about the tip jar at the bar...so we ignored the bar :-)

Thank you, Mike! Regardless of what Kayte says about dancing with me, I still think you get "Brother of the Year" award. At least in the "Oldest Brother" category :-D