Kari's Big Day

When I moved here a few years ago, I prayed that the Lord would provide me with at least one close single friend. He did. I met Kari almost immediately after I moved here at a Bible Study across town. As it turned out, we "just so happened" to live less than a mile from each other. We have spent countless hours shopping, talking, running, exercising, eating, hiking, laughing, worshiping, and praying together. Kari has been one of my greatest blessings in Colorado, and I can't imagine this adventure without her. Yesterday, Kari got married.


A few months ago, Kari asked if I would be willing to carry a walkie talkie at the wedding to help coordinate the wedding party during the processional. Feeling somewhat empowered by the idea of carrying a two way radio at a ceremonial event, I enthusiastically agreed. However, somewhere along the way I was promoted to the role of "wedding coordinator". I'm not really sure when that happened or why it did because have I mentioned that I've never actually coordinated a wedding...or planned one?

I'll admit to you that I didn't take my new found responsibilities too seriously, especially after learning that the reception would be at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. But....as it turns out, I really was expected to provide believable answers to complicated questions at the rehearsal on Thursday. Fortunately, my job as a middle school teacher has provided me with a number of opportunities to fabricate answers and then speak them with authority.

In spite of an incompetent wedding coordinator, the ceremony did manage to flow quite smoothly. Kari chose a picture perfect Colorado day for an outdoor wedding, and everyone and everything looked absolutely beautiful.

After the wedding, we had about an hour and a half before the official start of the reception. I had hiked quite a few hills in the hours leading up to the ceremony, so I decided to swing by my condo and clean up a bit before heading to the zoo. I also wanted to change into my khaki shorts and white button down shirt. And safari hat.

I rode to the reception with my friends, Brian and Chris, who had both been in charge of distributing driving directions at the wedding. Of course, navigating our way to a zoo we had all visited at least once seemed to be such a simple task that we chose to disregard the map and take a shortcut.


This is a picture taken from the inside of a mountain along our "shortcut" route. Yes, what you see is a dirt road. And...yes, I'm pretty sure we were in the middle of the national forest during at least part of our journey. We considered turning around a time or two but chose instead to forge ahead and hope that we didn't land at the top of Pike's Peak. The good news is that we discovered some new hiking trails and waterfalls and even spotted some wildlife along the way. The bad news is that the wedding coordinator arrived with the flowers for the cake table approximately forty-five minutes after the start of the reception.


Chris and me



Brian and me


After dinner, we had the opportunity to continue our pre-zoo wildlife adventure with a tour of the "Into the Wild" section of the zoo.





We also had the opportunity to ride the carousel after dinner. But, apparently the wedding coordinator's duties spill into the reception, so I spent the rest of the evening cutting cake and pretending to be in charge.



Congratulations, Barry and Kari! Thank you for including me in your special day. I wish you both the very best in your new life together, and I look forward to watching the Lord work in and through you in the years to come. May you be richly blessed.