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Wedding Ceremony Firsts

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Pat L

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I officiated a wedding ceremony today and had several firsts in that ceremony:

1. First time the maid of honor threw down her bouquet of flowers because she was being attacked by a bee

2. First time that a man dressed in an Elvis costume was an usher

3. First time that the wedding march was the glorious “Over the Rainbow” by Israel “IZ” Kamakawiwo’ole (clip here; entire album highly recommended)

4. First time that the (80-something?) grandmother of the groom pulled me aside after the service and told me that if she ever got remarried, she’d call me to do the ceremony – “but don’t count on anything soon”

It was a fun ceremony. Lord, please bless this couple.

2 responses to “Wedding Ceremony Firsts”

  1. A Avatar
    A

    Pat, you are alright in my book man. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve even met anyone outside of Hawaii that’s ever even heard of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, and that’s a shame; he was a phenomenal talent. I first learned of, and started listening to him at 17 when I was living as a surf bum in Hawaii (Yes, I had several lives.) when he was still with his band the Makaha Sons of Niihau, before going solo. He is one of my all time favs.

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  2. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    Sweet! I first heard Iz when Shannon and Kaileigh and I went to Kauai. I heard this song on the radio in our rental car. It literally gave me goosebumps. It’s so haunting.

    I bought a CD (the one I reference above, actually) there on the island, and then as soon as I got home I was dying to tell one of our guys, Mike, about this great musician. Mike grew up in Hawaii, and of course he knew all about Iz.

    We’ve used this CD as background music for some of our lunch feeds 🙂

    Later we had another guy come who was stationed in Hawaii in the Coast Guard. Just two weeks ago he came over with a videotape full of concert footange and interviews with Iz. I’ve watched it a few times now, mesmerized. Kaileigh LOVES to dance to it.

    I have no idea what the lyrics to many of those songs are, but it is hauntingly beautiful music. That man’s voice was mindblowing.

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Hello,

I’m Pat

Passionate about the common good, human flourishing, lifelong learning, being a good ancestor.

Things I do: Engineering leadership; Grad Instructor in spirituality, creativity, digital personhood, pilgrimage.

Powerlifter, mountain biker, Gonzaga basketball fan, reader, urban sketcher, hiker.

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