On Births, Deaths and Weddings My older brother Dale Hunter commented in the wake of my recent wedding that he believed people get most crazy – losing all sensibility, when it comes to births, deaths and weddings. I understand “readers” read just because something was written much the same way that “climbers” climb because the rock is there ( Ron Jon). I will try not to take too much advantage of your compulsive pathology. I tagged names where I could for the benefit of those of us who are skimmers so they can lightly rush to the paragraph that may mean most to them. However, FB would only let me tag you once, even if I mentioned your name more. The past four weeks have been for me a marathon at a sprint pace. Exhausted, I wanted to pause prior to my planned hibernation to thank the many people (and in no certain order) who helped me survive it. On births – we had a great Christmas season, even though it was crowded by the wedding. But it is a time when the world pauses to celebrate the birth of Christ and as Debra ( Terry Chandler s wife) says “celebrations should be celebrated”. I regretted not being able to better celebrate this year than I did but plan to do a better job in 2015 … as a matter of fact, I may start early … very early – Merry Christmas to you all. On deaths, I lost a dear friend in the midst of the turmoil. Robert Laws passed away on my wedding day leaving me in a mix of emotions for the day – wishing I could mitotically divide and be at two places at once. With great regret, I missed his funeral but understand it was beautiful. He was a great man, his life should be well celebrated. Dewan Laws JoEllen Adams Laws . On Weddings: first, Mrs. Hunter and I would like to personally thank everyone who attended and all those who were unable to attend, we felt your warmth, love and presence in spirit. I will be unable to recall everyone’s contribution and will no doubt forget many of note but that will not stop me from making my best effort with my aging memory and please know that if you are omitted in my prose, you were never short in my gratitude. Keith Grinnis at Jewelry Concepts has been helping from the beginning, starting with the “Mary and 12 Stars” engagement ring, all the way through the paired Rosary Wedding bands and helping me gather Pearls for the bridesmaids rosary bracelets (don’t worry ladies, I haven’t forgotten that I still have several to finish). People who are good at their job, make them look effortless, but people who are great at what they do, successfully anticipate and accommodate needs before they arise preventing catastrophes that consequently never occur. Msgr Francis Malone sacrificed a part of his vacation in anticipation of the possibility of our need for a last minute priest, which would be otherwise unobtainable on both a World Holiday and High Holy feast day. Without that anticipation and accommodation, the wedding would have been a catastrophe. You did a great job Frank, you successfully welcomed Catholic and non Catholic with the warmth we most wanted to share. We had several people ask if they could buy the “wedding soundtrack” – thanks to Bernie Turgeon and Caroline Boone. We missed Msgr. O’Donnell at the wedding but he blessed us with a special appearance hosted by the Sisters of the Missionaries of Charity in a post wedding Mass and feast just prior to our honeymoon send off. It’s hard to fully remember all the things Joshua D Hunter did leading up to and all through the wedding day, errands ran in last minute confusion. Susan Arnout Smith flew out early to get Shelly started on the wedding plans and get a dress ordered, then came in town early to help keep Shelly on point through the mad dash of wedding prep. While I am grateful for these efforts, what I am most grateful for from her is that she brought her husband Fred who is a fellow fraternity brother in a very small fraternity of three to which we belong, (Fred, me and a guy named Joseph who is eccentric enough to have no last name). Matthew Martin made a huge contribution by keeping the home fires burning while his wife Anne Martin attended. Probably if we could analyze the actual wedding day, the phrases most often used were “Anne has it” and “Anne did that already”. Her presence in every way more than made up for her “handiwork” displayed while making the helium balloon Rosary on New Year’s eve, (a performance which cannot be further discussed in such discrete company as my fb readers). And on that note, recognition of the Little Rock Airport tower must be made for making the effort to accommodate our balloon release so near the airport. Regrettably, the weather … and the fact that the entire wad of 60 helium balloons lay dormant in a large clump in the floor of our Double Tree suite only hours after its assembly (despite our care in using all the tips fb and YouTube had to offer regarding sustaining your helium balloons after inflation) prohibited the much anticipated balloon rosary release. Janet K. Keller and Carolyn K. Long were a constant source of “Shelly support” though we did miss Carolyn’s mother Priscilla Kluckhuhn who continues to age timelessly like Benjamin Button. Also on the “we missed” list were Jeanne Marie Barnes and He’lene Laperrousa both of whom were instrumental in Shelly’s annulment without which there would never have been a wedding. Mention of the balloons in our Double Tree suite cannot be made without remembering the work done by Amanda Campbell and Karen Dunne at the Hilton Double Tree Downtown Riverfront Little Rock who made our reception go as smoothly as possible and took such good care of all our out of town guests. Victor Davis I don’t have access to these ladies FB access but I know you can pass along the sentiment. People asked who came the farthest for the wedding, no doubt distance wise, our son Jonathan (Ron Jon) came from Germany and Ann Martin from Hawaii but I tell people it was Terry Chandler who came the farthest, because I know what it took for him to leave his farm in Georgia but also know that Kim Chandler did an outstanding job at keeping the cattle fed so Terry and Debra could attend without worries. It was great to have John Mecum down form New York who graciously sacrificed himself by consuming as much of our household perishables as humanly possible ensuring that none would be wasted while we were out of town. And Jonathan (Ron Jon) was home for the holidays along with Josh. But we did have a noticeable void with the absence of Joe Mecum and wife Randie Mecum who couldn’t get away from his new Marine post position to be here with their beautiful girls Evie and Iris. Shelly had big flower girl visions for the grandbabies. Speaking of voids – the loss of not having Shelly’s father Richard and Mary Jo Sequin present to walk Shelly down the aisle started as a small implosion that brought Shelly to wonder why even bother with the formalities at all as he was the intended co-star of the event. But thanks to technology and the help of Denise Sequin who provided Facetime access in Michigan and my dear friends Pam Pamela Elkins and Donna McCauley who sacrificed just enjoying the moment for working as the Facetime camera crew in Little Rock, it really felt that Richard was present through the ceremony and then joined the reception as well. The icing on the cake was having Shelly’s brother Hunter James stand in for Richard for the New Years Eve party, wedding, reception and breakfast the morning after for all those staying over at the hotel, giving us all a glimpse of what Jolene Hennessy James knows that we don’t and why she has stayed with him so long. Don’t worry Hunter, the secret of your core is safe with us and we promise to support and maintain the gruff, sorely marauding buccaneer persona whenever in public, but we do want Richard to know that his son did him proud. I mentioned the Facetime camera crew but can’t leave out the wonderful photos taken by Susan Holmes On the subject of brothers … did anyone there meet my older brother Dale Hunter? I am told he was there but never saw him? In his place was a bit of the life of the reception going from table to table pouring coffee and hot sauce for all the guests regaling them with anecdotes of bees and honey. My younger brother Doug Hunter drove up from Texas for the event and offered to work the kitchen if needed. Having had his cooking before, I recognize that despite how great the Double Tree staff did, the guests were unknowingly shortchanged by missing out on one of Doug’s meals – we had originally hoped to team him up with soul food chef Valleria Garcia to delight everyone with what would have no doubt been a gastronomic explosion. Valeria you were missed and we prayed for your father-in-law while in all the great cathedrals in Europe. They say that you meet some career friends in college but you make lifelong friends in high school. It wouldn’t have seemed like the celebration it was to me without my friends Terry Chandler – who’s reception toast left the crowd with more questions than answers, Pam Elkins camera girl extraordinaire and standing at my immediate left in all the photos - David Faulkner, Bearer of the Rings – which is not a Tolkien title but very well could be one. For Shelly, having childhood friends present was a blessing with April Monroe and her parents Dawn and Gene and husband Huey, and if you ever find yourself burdened with a bowl of mixed nuts containing excess almonds and cashews – give Huey a call. Our honeymoon leaped to the right foot, thanks to Jonathan (Ron Jon) and Roxie Finn who gave up a week of cavorting with friends to spend the time showing two old fogies around Germany. What a great week and we couldn’t imagine doing it without the two of you. While it sounds a bit like a commercial interrupt, the week was sponsored by our new friends Catrin Hinkel , Bjorne and Thorben who graciously invited us into their beautiful home in Muhltal, and entertained us with their company. Catrin told us there is no bad weather, only bad clothing. We “packed poorly” for Berlin, and Paris, often wearing most of our clothes at one time in layers under rain ponchos like some SNL skit but it didn’t prevent us from venturing out to explore her guided recommendations for Berlin excursions which were all right on point. We can highly recommend their B & B to all our friends planning a trip to Germany. We arrived in the middle of the Paris unity march for Charlie Hebdo only to find later that week that the U. S. “failed to acknowledge the event by sending top level dignitaries” which begged us to ask the question “what were we? Chopped liver?” non-the-less, despite everyone’s concerns we felt safe in the streets as the police outnumbered the tourists and since they weren’t seeing attractions, there were few lines … except for the two hour wait … in the rain to see Sainte Chapelle only to find much of it covered inside for restoration work. During my absence, I can’t speak highly enough about my office staff who kept the place running seamlessly … almost generating a concern of my own job security. While I can’t name them all here, there was the developing realization that I was growing an additional appendage on my right side which has surpassed the value of my right arm as it is more multifunctional. The name of that appendage is Julie Barnhart who spent my absence validating our prior decision to name her the 2014 Employee of the Year. For anyone planning a trip to the Vatican, our new friends Cesar D. Jaramillo and Jeff Hanley are most knowledgeable wonderful and entertaining tour guides. We highly recommend you free a little time in the evening to have Cesar take you to a priestly dinner spot where you can get some of the nastiest green absinthe (in the event that you should ever need such a drink) to wash down the coronary inducing deserts. Those of you prone to prayers should add them and all seminarians to your regular prayer list. Seminarians, prayers and priests leads me to the conclusion of a wonderful honeymoon with Pope Francis. What a terrific day that started at 4 am getting re-attired in wedding regalia to be in line by 6:30 at the Vatican Assembly Hall back gate then being pushed through in a veritable wave of people into the Hall where reserved seats awaited newlyweds (in costume). After the Papal addressment, he stopped to meet and greet dignitaries with a kind but somewhat obligatory smile then blossomed as he hugged, kissed, blessed and enriched the souls of numerous families bearing loved ones with all manners of ailments and afflictions. After passing through their rows he met the gauntlet that was new brides. Unsuspectingly like a fly in the web of a spider he approached Shelly who much like the famed Steinbeck’s Lennie, just wanted to “hold him and squeeze him and love him and pet him and never ever let him go”. My biggest mistake was giving him my cell number (upon his insistence) as shortly after the audience the messages began and he has blown my phone up since with texts and photos including everything from what he is eating for breakfast (“poached eggs and ham … mmmm wish you had some”) to a “new spot on my foot” photo – “should I see a doctor or just wait and see what it does?” it would be wonderful if he would remember that we are 7 hours behind in time zones so his 9 am breakfast photo is my 2 am wakeup text. We passed him a note carrying all your prayer intentions during our ever so brief encounter which he accepted with ease but responded with greater grace by requesting that we all pray for him. Please do. We ended the day with the Vatican Scave tour to see the remaining bones of Peter deep beneath St. Peter’s Basilica. Should you go, we highly recommend the small investment in the tour. While counting on God’s grace for short notice tickets did work out, we do recommend you schedule it months in advance as suggested by all the tour books and the Swiss Guards who man the gait to prevent unticketed people from just wandering aimlessly in, or from trying a second time to walk straight in as if they own the place counting on the air of confidence to confuse the guards, (don’t ask me know I know, just trust me when I tell you). Which leads me to my final gratitude: With eyes of three years past, I could never imagine having traversed this path but it has been a most fulfilling and rewarding journey walking in the tangible mist of radiantly colored sunlight that is God’s grace. It was a celebration and we were humbled by all those of you who joined us to celebrate it both present and abroad. The Marathon has ended and my hibernation begins. God Bless you all.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 21:04:18 +0000
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