Weddings & Igloos
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Collette found that she could not sleep after having only dozed two hours, Saturday night. OLeif was still gone at quarter till two in the morning, transplanting computers over at work. She looked out the window to see a Pappa John’s car drive by, wondering if they were actually open that late. And then she pulled up her email as the snow continued to fall.
A message was there from the Blots in Louisiana. Emerald was engaged, had been proposed to the night before. And only just twenty, she would be getting married that summer. It was the same age her sister, Monday, had been when she was married.
OLeif was home by two o’clock. And come morning, a fresh layer of pure white covered the world. Although OLeif had been able to catch only ten hours of sleep over the space of two nights, he was to finish setting up the computers and such Sunday afternoon as well.
At church, Susie had just cut off all her long thick hair to donate to Locks of Love. And Rose worked in the nursery, or the “room of torture”, as she liked to describe it.
In the afternoon, OLeif was off to finish the job at work right after lunch. He was already wiped by the time he headed off. It was bound to be another late night for the poor fellow. But at least dinner would likely be provided again. Saturday night it had been Little Caesar’s and White Castle for everyone involved with the set-up.
As he took off, Carrie and Linnea were in the process of constructing a great igloo in the backyard. After several hours of good hard work, they had the dome piled high with a tunnel through the middle.
Inside, Collette almost dozed off in front of the fire, where Carrie’s first set of snow-soaked gloves almost roasted on top of the stove, in the process of drying.
And Dad and Mom had looked over their options for Disney World. Their first choice of lodging was in a sort of safari resort set in the middle of an African animal habitat. Dad of course decided that they were going to drive the sixteen hours straight, with only brief stops for meals and to stretch their legs. He would do all of the driving. He had opted against Mom’s idea of splitting up the trip into two days. They would plow through from start to finish, as always, in Dad’s little gold car.
Meanwhile, Mom called up Aunt Corliss to discuss more suggestions for Polly’s wedding. Polly was considering the little Methodist church next to Miss Aimee B’s for the wedding itself, and The Columns for the reception, and perhaps a quartet or some other form of classical music for the wedding itself.
Come evening, Mom and Dad prepared for their last small group session of listening to R.C. Sproul’s lectures on worship, before beginning a new series. And Mom baked a cake.
Shortly later, Collette enjoyed an extended ride home with Carrie and Rose after they had picked up Frances from the Hobcoggins for brunch, sledding, and snowball fights all afternoon. And then Rose was off to youth while Joe was at the movies with friends.
Collette enjoyed rides in the evening, after the sun had already gone down, with music for the road – usually one of Carrie-Bri’s variety mixes.
The snow had been perfect. Despite the growing piles of harvested branches and trees around the city from the ice the week before, the snow had fallen beautifully. It was a good winter.