My daughter Dana was married on Saturday, and it was quite a momentous event in the lives of the Yonke family. And of course for her fiance, Matt Johnson, and his extended family.
Everything went well. I only cried before the ceremony, twice actually -- once when Dana walked into the sanctuary for photos with her bridesmaids about 1 1/2 hours before the wedding. "Daddy! I didn't expect to see you," she said, and started bawling. That brought tears to my eyes too, and we hugged and cried together. The next time the tears came was when I heard the string trio rehearsing "Here Comes the Bride." It just hit home at that moment, for some reason, that my little girl was actually getting married.
The ceremony itself went smoothly and Dana and Matt were smiling the whole time. When it was time for the recessional, Dana raised her hand with the bouquet in the air and just was beaming with joy.
I thought the father of the bride wouldn't have too much to do, and compared to the mother of the bride and Dana's sisters, that's true. But even so, it was a bit overwhelming for me. But we all made it through, and Dana and Matt are now on a cruise around the Hawaiian islands, and she is now Mrs. Matthew Johnson.
My 9-year-old nephew Spencer Dalton, who is like a 40-year-old man in a kid's body, cracked me up by telling me that he was glad Dana is married now because "she has someone to cuddle with all the time, and someone to take care of her, and you (meaning me) don't have to worry about her anymore."
Now that the big whirlwind of a family wedding is over, I hope to get back to a more regular routine blogging.
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Today is the 2-year anniversary of Katrina. Just a few thoughts...
When Katrina was approaching the gulf coast, Janet and I were in a hotel room in Sydney, Australia, watching Fox News -- the only American channel there. I had been fearful of a hurricane hitting New Orleans ever since I visited the city in 2002 and saw how it was below sea level and so vulnerable. But as we waited for our limo to the airport, Fox news reported that Katrina had been downgraded from a category 4 to a category 3 hurricane and had veered slightly to the east of the city. So it looked like Katrina would not be as devastating as I feared.
When I arrived in L.A. after a 14-hour flight, I called the Blade newsroom and talked to then-city editor Jim Wilhelm. "New Orleans is gone," he said. "Just gone." I couldn't believe it. Here I had been thinking during the long flight that the hurricane would deal only a glancing blow to the crescent city. It turned out to be such a nightmare. I don't know if Nawlins will ever be the same. I doubt it.
Second, I went to the gulf coast in November, 2005, with a church to do some repair work. We shingled rooves, put in dry wall and ceilings, and similar jobs in the Pascagoula-Biloxi area. Here we were 50 miles east of New Orleans, 3 months after the hurricane, and entire neighborhoods were still devastated. I remember a small boat sitting against the glass doors of a church. The people in the church told me that the boat had provided an escape for a family who went from their flooded house to the church for help. Actually, the damage and the destruction were almost beyond belief. Entire houses had been washed into the gulf. In Biloxi, I saw two homes that had crashed together in the middle of the street, like a couple of wrecked cars. FEMA trailers were everywhere.
When we went to Lowe's every morning to stock up on supplies, the parking lot was full of church vans and trailers from all over the country. The FEMA people told me that although the government provided funds for hurricane victims, they couldn't provide the manpower to do the repairs. Much of the work was being done by volunteers from churches who came to help. Some homeowners told me that they couldn't hire anyone, there was no one available, and they were so thankful for the church mission teams that came to the area.
Last night, I interviewed New Orleans jazz musician Terence Blanchard, who is coming to town next week. He has released an album called "A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina)." Blanchard said he had to keep catching himself not to let his anger out on every song, but wanted to use his music to give a voice to all the people of the gulf coast who otherwise don't get a chance to express their feelings.
We should never forget Katrina and the aftermath of that ferocious storm.
Toledo, Ohio
August 29, 2007.
p.s. Some sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that Fr. Stanbery's postings are no longer online. He called me today and asked to withdraw it, which I did. For unspecified reasons.