A Wedding in Colorado

A cousin of mine lives a little outside Pueblo, Colorado. She and her husband adopted three Hawaiian children, the youngest of whom is now 27. Last year he and his girlfriend announced their engagement. Each of them as a son and a daughter from a previous relationship, and all the children get along well. My brother is the young man's godfather, and he and I were invited to the wedding. The father of the groom made reservations for us at a motel just off the Interstate.

We flew to Colorado Springs and rented a car to get to Pueblo, arriving at about 10 p.m. the Thursday evening before the wedding. On Friday we did some sightseeing and went to Mass at noon in the Cathedral. Pueblo is an attractive city with an interesting history. We were invited to the rehearsal dinner so we went to the rehearsal and followed the groom's father to the dinner. The dinner — Mexican-style food — was prepared by the parents and other relatives of the couple and held at a small function hall. (Except for my cousin and the Hawaiian children, the families are completely Hispanic.)

During my sightseeing in the afternoon, my camera had run out of space on the memory stick, so after the dinner I went to a Walmart to try to find another memory stick. They didn't have one that would work in my camera, and the clerk suggested I try a Best Buy. By then it was too late for that evening, so I set out Saturday morning. It took some time for me to find a Best Buy, meanwhile looking in several other likely-seeming stores without success. I finally located a Best Buy, and they didn't have what I needed either. By then it was getting close to the time for the wedding, so I went back to the motel to pick up my brother and go to the church. He managed to delete some old images from the memory stick, so I was able to get a few photos.

There is a Hispanic custom involving a beaded cord with two loops called a lazo which is placed over the heads of the couple. I had never seen it before, and thought it was a nice symbol of their being joined. Apart from that, the Mass went abut as usual for a wedding, and it was a joyous occasion. The couple's daughters were flower girls and the sons were ring bearers.

The reception was across town at 5:00, which gave my brother and me time to go to Mass at 4:00 at the cathedral to fulfill our Sunday obligation — which was good since we'd be traveling all day Sunday. The reception was a catered buffet, with a cash bar, and a DJ supplying the music. The food was quite tasty. A while after the first dances, the groom's brother (one of the groomsmen), his children, and his very pregnant girlfriend were at my table. My cousin came by and told the girlfriend, "Now that the wedding's over, you can go into labor whenever you want." And she had the baby a week or so ago. I gather they're also planning to get married, but I hope I'll be able to save some money before they do. These trips aren't cheap. I just realized that I shouldn't be hoping they'll continue cohabiting out of wedlock for my fiscal comfort.

My cousin reported that during her dance with her son she had tears streaming down her face.

My brother and I left the reception before the throwing of the bouquet and of the garter and the cutting of the cake, because we had to get up early to get to Colorado Springs for a fight shortly before 11:00. With a change in Dallas, we arrived in Boston about six hours later.

Although the young people seem to have the typical sexual amorality of their generation, they otherwise seem to take their faith seriously. The bride wanted a Mass for the wedding, which meant they'd be receiving Communion, and she chose scripture reading which were not the usual, obviously taking it very seriously.

All in all, it was a very good trip.