Bubba gets married, Jan. 18, 2008

The wedding day started out with me getting up, feeding dad, jumping in the shower, driving 15 miles to pick up Paul, my son, driving back the 15 miles and picking up Tess, Cassie and Athena, driving another 2 hours down the coast (we got held up by construction for nearly ½ hour in the middle of the trip. I thought Paul was going to lose it, we were running so late. Cassie was entertaining herself with a dog that sang an old Elvis song, and her "puter" which makes obnoxious monkey sounds and keeps saying Choose and activity.
When we finally got to the park, there was no one there, and we arrived about 15 minutes late for the start of the wedding. Fortunately, the rest of the wedding party was even later than us. The guests were clustered in an entirely different location. It was nuts. I had reserved the meeting room/Yurt, and we had to get the key to get in. We also had to figure out where the guests were. Someone arrived after about 10 minutes and said they would round up the guests and bring them there. The mother of the bride arrived next, followed shortly by the rest of the bridal party. The wedding was held next to a covered picnic area on the shores of the lake. It was a spectacularly beautiful day. Athena and her new cousin Elias were in front of Cassie and I on the way down the aisle. Natane’s uncle-in-law sang and drummed during the entrance and exit. The service was beautiful. Cassie had a cute little basket of potpourri and tulip petals to toss. I was pushing her in a transport wheelchair. She didn’t want to be in the wheelchair until she heard she would get to throw flowers. Her little butt slid out between the seat back and the seat about halfway down the path, so I to stop and pull her back out and get her rearranged. The father of the bride said, “It’s okay Rita, they have to wait for us." It was cute. When we got to our spot and I sat down, Cassie wanted to sit in my lap. I held her and she started to cry because she couldn’t see her mommy. Mommy was officiating so she was behind the bride and groom. I calmed her down by getting her to focus on how beautiful Natane’s wedding dress was and how happy her uncle Bubba was. Then she settled down until about 2 minutes from the end when she started asking where her mommy was. As soon as Paul and Natane kissed, she could see her and everything was good again.
They got down the “aisle” and led the way back up to the reception. The food consisted of Indian Fry-bread made by the bride’s uncle, a turkey and stuffing, some sort of green whipped cream and fruit concoction, potato salad, pumpkin and apple pies, celery and dip, potato chips, and of course wedding cake. It was a beautiful spice cake with white icing topped with leaves. It was three square layers at different angles. Natane made it herself. Several of her aunts and uncles were there, Paul’s dad, step-mom and little sister were there. Not bad considering most everyone didn’t even know about the wedding until a week ago. Her grandpa and grandma didn’t even know she had been dating Paul. It was kind of weird, by it was really nice, too. Our families all seem to get along together well. Her mom is half Siletz Indian, her dad is 100% white, our family has a little native American blood, and a lot of other things as well. Spending time with my ex and his wife was fun. We have always gotten along really well, and we don’t see each other very often. It is amazing sometimes, though, how much alike Paul and his dad are. I told his dad it was sad that the dad has more hair than the son. We both had to laugh about that. Paul’s hair started thinning several years ago. His dad still has at least 90% of his. I can’t wait to see wedding photos. I have no idea who will have some we will get to see. Several people took video and photos, but there was no actual photographer.
The drive home was long and exhausting. Cassie wanted a hagurger so we went through McD’s and then she wanted to know where her chickem was. So on our way through the next town we stopped at Gurger King and got her the chickem. She had eaten at least half of her burger, then ate all the chickem. She had also really stuffed herself on fry-bread at the wedding, so I am not sure where she was putting it all. I can’t believe she only weighs 26 pounds with as much as she stuff in. Athena, Tess and I got food at Taco Bell, since we don’t have one in Lincoln City we take advantage of it when we can. We dropped the girls off at Tess’s ex’s house to spend the weekend. I came home and promptly fell asleep and took an hour and a half nap. Boy, did I need it!!