Thunder, lightning, rain, wind, and a lovely outdoor wedding

Lauren and Frank's wedding yesterday inspired this trip. We had originally planned to go to Italy this summer, but on New Year's Day, when John performed the wedding for Lauren's sister, and Lauren and Frank asked him to perform theirs, we immediately changed our plans and came up with the road trip idea.

The day began with exploration of Historic Colorado Springs (in caps because that's the way they promote it). Basically, we poked in and out of a few stores in an area of about 4 blocks with 19th century buildings. We were selective and enjoyed doing some Christmas shopping in two galleries. Then we moved on to Manitou Springs, just up the road (near Garden of the Gods) and strolled around, poking into more stores. There the theme was "silliness" as we found several places selling clever toys (stocking gifts). Manitou Springs has about six public springs where you can fill your water bottle and taste the fizzy differences among them. We tasted at two of them and then had a delicious, slow lunch (the latter, not our choice; it's a place known for good food and slow service).

After a stop by the hotel to freshen up (and a quick visit to a battery store to try to sort out the one technological glitch of the trip; first John's and then Susan's phone started draining their batteries on fast-forward. Overuse of car charger? Altitude? Still not certain) we headed for the Myers' home. It was 96 degrees and sunny when we left the hotel, 83 with threatening clouds when we reached the house twelve minutes later. Colorado Springs being 200 square miles that include a number of mountains means that different parts of the city can experience dramatically different weather. The Myers had had quite a day. Rick's mom was stuck in the hospital, where modest symptoms had led to a full battery of tests, and now a major thunderstorm was brewing, threatening to tear apart the beautifully decorated tent, pagoda, tables, etc. As huge wind gusts blew through we went into "command central" mode, monitoring the Doppler radar and the progress of the raiding party attempting to spring Grammy from the hospital while the younger guests engaged in premature keg-tapping.

A mere half-hour later we had Grammy in her seat, the skies opened a bit, and the ceremony began as the musicians sang "Here Comes the Sun." John sped up the pace of the service when the thunder began to peal again, frightening one of the bridesmaids (Lauren's dog, Guinness), but in the end the ceremony was all that we hoped it would be. This may not be the first time that John has performed ceremonies for two brides from the same family within six months, but he cannot remember such a thing in the past.

As we left the festivities, we had one of those out-of-the-blue, memorable moments. A young couple approached us and asked directly, "How long have you been married?" We replied, "more than 40 years." They gulped, and said "what's your secret?" Susan immediately came up

with "lots of good sex" and John quickly added, "lots of humor." (This says a great deal about their respective priorities.) We learned that they are being married at the end of July, just bought a house and changed jobs. We told them about how we've agonized over the small decisions of life (which washer and dryer to purchase) and have made the big decisions quickly (move to Wisconsin). Susan suspects that a lot of work on the big ones gets done unconsciously and both of us attribute the outcomes to God's goodness.

So now we head for Nebraska. We have been at high altitude (between 7,500 and 12,000 feet) for a number of days, going through multiple tubes of lip balm and wishing we had brought skin cream. At Taylor's house John learned that opening a bottle of tonic at 9,700 feet can bring unexpected drama. We will spend the next two days descending to our familiar Midwestern flatlands.