Yesterday was a fun and exciting day. We had a wedding and two graduation parties, and all of them involved former students I actually know.

The wedding was a late morning wedding, and it was the long-anticipated wedding between our former CVCA students Tom and Fiona. Tom and Fiona had both taken Mer’s Honors and AP English classes, and I’d had Tom in Royal Fools, and I’d worked with both Tom and Fiona on the Diakonos service team’s spring break service trips. Tom is one of the most talented improv students I have ever had, and Fiona is one of the most genuinely sweet and compassionate students I have ever met. They’d started dating in high school, and now, four years later, got married.

Many members of the bridal party were former CVCA students, and there were a ton of current and former CVCA people in the congregation. Fiona had a simple, pretty dress and a 1920s-style mini veil that was perfect for her personality. Tom seemed very calm, but he did break out in a huge smile when Fiona came down the aisle. Fiona needed a little time when she came to read her vows to Tom, as she started crying (which was very sweet), but she made it through. It was a beautiful service, with a homily speaking to the serious nature of marriage and the life-long commitment required, and Tom and Fiona spent some time in prayer.

After the service, the congregation stayed seated for a few minutes while a slide show of Tom and Fiona played. I had never seen that before as part of a wedding service (these are usually played at a reception), and I liked it. Everyone could see because the screens were high, and there were no distractions (like food or conversation). Mer and I were very pleased that we appeared in one of the slides with Tom and Fiona. We felt famous.

There was an appetizer time after the ceremony, and we got to visit with Zach and Londa Churchill quite a bit, as well as with some other CVCA folks. We eventually wound our way into the reception room, where we were a bit sad to find out we were not sitting with Zach and Londa. It turned out okay, though, as we got to sit with the McSparrans and a host of former CVCA students who provided amusing conversation.

There was a meal served that was a buffet of various sandwich wraps that were excellent. Mer and I were a tad embarrassed when Tom and Fiona cut their “cake,” which was a large cupcake. Everyone was then encouraged to eat the cupcake that was in front of each seat. Mer and I had eaten that about forty-five minutes beforehand. Ooops.

It was a fun gathering, and I was frustrated that I needed to leave a bit early. I started having digestive problems, and had to ask Mer to leave. We still had an excellent time and got in some quality visiting, and it was a great wedding.

I took a nap and drank some water and felt better, which was good because we still had a full day of graduation parties to go to. The first party was a joint party, with Nate and Alec as hosts. Nate was in Royal Fools, and both Nate and Alec were in my Connections small group at CVCA. I knew them both quite well and was very much looking forward to the party.

The party was up in Hudson, in the back yard of Nate’s house, where we’d attended Nate’s older brother’s graduation party three years prior. The place was mobbed with familiar faces, including the Millers, the parents of one of Mer’s favorite former students who graduated five years ago. The Millers’ presence was a nice surprise to us, as we’d forgotten they were friends of Nate’s family.

The food was excellent, and Mer and I got to spend a good chunk of time chatting with Rachel, a current CVCA student and Fool who had just gotten back from a family trip to Italy. Later, I spent a good chink of time chatting with Ben Pykare, a former Fool and the student help I have this summer. We talked about the video game Civilization V, which we currently play together on occasion.

We ended the evening going to a grad party of a student whom I did not know (one of Mer’s students). The food was fantastic, and as we settled down in chairs in the shade, a young woman approached us. She was smiling, and finally told us that she was Malu, a former CVCA exchange student from Brazil who had been in Fools. I felt terrible for not recognizing her, but last I had known, she was in California, and so I was not expecting to see her at a small CVCA grad party. She was in town because her former host family, the DiPaolos, were having their own wedding of a daughter the next day, and Malu was in town for a month as part of that celebration. We had a long talk with Malu about her studying theater out in California at Biola, and it was wonderful to catch up with her. Her English was always excellent, but she is now at the point where her accent is almost gone.

It was a grand day, with the only down side being that Mer forgot her purse at the last party, and I had to take the forty-five-minute round-trip back to go get it. Happily, it had not moved at all from where she had placed it, so the day ended on the same happy note on which it began.