Ceremony @ MindSay 
wedding
The predicted mindset of our culture is that, boys play with mechanical toys, girls play with toys that they can make into characters. I couldn't say whether that's true or not - everyone was excited about the dinosaurs. A few of the boys built a racecourse out of wooden blocks (or maybe it was a zoo, I'm not sure) and drove the little Hot Wheels trucks around to chase the dinosaurs. The 1-3 girls I was playing with (short attention spans - they'd keep coming back) discovered that we had two medium-size dinosaurs of the same species (Godzillicus), and declared that they were getting married.
Theme birthday parties are big with this crew. Somebody had a football birthday party this month, and one of the preschoolers in the other group I work with had a Spiderman party. So, I suppose you could have a dinosaur wedding.
Only dinosaurs are allowed to attend. No farm animals, on grounds that they're all bigger than the dinosaurs and would step on them.
The groom is black, the bride is coral. Actually, in almost any situation, when you have a male and female character that interact with each other, they're "the mommy and the daddy." So, right. The mommy dinosaur and the daddy dinosaur stand up in front, holding hands. Their job is to remain standing and smiling while the guests are assembled.
This is the most important part of the wedding. All the guests have to be assembled, in very neat lines. Troublemakers, like the stegosauri, recognize that their heads and tails are very similar, and think that they're being funny by having their back to the happy couple. This is swiftly corrected by the four-year-old. There is absolutely no segregation, though somewhere in the back of my mind I was having a somewhat traumatic mental image of how the ceremony might progress having an allosaur next to a duckbill.
Actually, that wouldn't be a problem at all, because the process of assembling the guests takes more time than any other part of the wedding, and the wedding can't start until they're all quiet. This point was stressed several times by both girls.
Right around when all the guests were finally facing the proper direction, all standing (we ended up having an offending pair lean on each other - cheap plastic toys need better feet), and had finally settled down to the obligatory silence, there was a trumpet over the hill. The "Mama Long-neck" and her brood had appeared! Out of town relatives, showing up late to the wedding. Very well. It should be noted that the little girl responsible for the timely arrival of this group had in fact somehow snarfed every brontosaurus out of the box, so there was a very solid line of exactly one species in the back.
At this point, the giant yellow dinosaur made a terrific leap, as though pursuing Indiana Jones across my lap, and clambered to the top of my thigh, eying the waiting guests, and the bride and groom, rapturously lost in each other's eyes. It was determined that his job was to sit up on top of the hill (my knee) and watch everybody, and whoever was the quietest during the ceremony would get a trophy afterwards.
Why this custom has fallen out of favor since prehistoric times, I can't imagine. I think we should bring this back - have some random official, not actually family or friend, so that he can be objective (giant yellow dinosaur, being about twelve times the size of anyone present, was clearly not related), watch everyone's behavior.
This, then, is how dinosaurs get married. After everyone's assembled and quiet, and you could cut the anticipation with an eyetooth, the couple kiss. Then they hug. Then they kiss, kiss, kiss - leaping in the air higher on each kiss, because they're happy. Then they leave.
All the guests have to stay still (yes, this was declared), because the bridge and groom have to get in their motorboat to go on their honeymoon. Then they come back and run everybody over. Actually, I'm not sure if that's after the honeymoon, or the precursor to taking off for wherever dinosaurs honeymoon, but there was a very deliberate pause with the motorboat, looking over all the guests, before plowing through and scattering baby triceratops (along with everyone else) into colorful disarray.
And that is how dinosaurs get married.
As our wedding approaches (78 days!) we are starting to talk about ceremony, traditions, vows, songs, flowers and all the details. We decided that it would nice to incorporate traditions from our parents and grandparents weddings.
So now I would like to ask all you mindsayers: What are some of the most memorable moments or interesting traditions that you incorporated into your wedding?
I would love any advice on getting through the last stages of planning that include all the little details that I never really thought about.
Thanks!
I simply love the Scottish-American church parade known as the "Kirking of the Tartans". This event took place last Sunday at one of our local Presbyterian Churches and featured the St. Andrew Society of Baton Rouge, Caledonian Society of Baton Rouge and the wonderful bagpipe music of the Baton Rouge Pipes & Drums of the Caledonian Society.
CuldeeDeacon +
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
Feb. 25, 2007 – About 160 family members of U.S. troops killed during the Persian Gulf War gathered at an Army officers' club at Fort Myer, Va., today as part of an annual observance to remember fallen loved ones. The 16th annual remembrance ceremony to honor those killed in the Gulf War is sponsored by the White House Commission on Remembrance and the Embassy of the State of Kuwait.
The ceremony was to have been held at Section 60 in Arlington National Cemetery, where many servicemembers killed in the Gulf War lay at rest. However, inclement winter weather caused the ceremony to be moved indoors to Fort Myers, located next to the cemetery.
The United States and more than 20 allied nations fought the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War to remove Iraqi military forces that had invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990 by then-dictator Saddam Hussein's order. More than 370 U.S. servicemembers died in the conflict.
Navy Adm. Edmund P. Giambastiani, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was one of several senior U.S. and foreign government officials who addressed the families at the event. The admiral said it was an honor "to celebrate not only the service, but of course, the sacrifice of those who fought and died in defense of freedom in the Gulf War."
Giambastiani said remembrance of the fallen is a long-standing American military tradition, and Arlington National Cemetery "is a physical remembrance and an expression of remembrance of service and sacrifice and loss that each of us, every single one of us in uniform carry as part of who we are and why we serve."
Observances of the fallen also help families realize their "yearning and fervent desire to retain the spirit of these loved ones," the four-star admiral said.
"One behalf of a grateful nation, I thank you for your sacrifice - the greatest one can make," Giambastiani told gathered family members. "I can assume you that we will continue to support and defend the nation for whom they gave the last full measure of devotion."
The remembrance ceremony also illustrates the strong bond of friendship between the people of the United States and Kuwait, Gordon Gray, the U.S. State Department's deputy assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, said.
Since liberation by U.S. and coalition forces at the end of February 1991, Kuwait continues as an appreciated and steadfast ally of the United States, Gordon said. Kuwait has instituted many democratic and economic reforms over recent years in a tumultuous region of the world, Gordon noted, including providing Kuwaiti women the right to vote and run for political office.
The U.S.-Kuwaiti partnership "is embodied by robust political, military and economic ties," Gordon said, noting Kuwait has provided substantial assistance during Operation Iraqi Freedom, to include the provision of troops.
Sheik Salem Abdullah Al Jaber Al-Sabah, Kuwait's Ambassador to the United States, extended his government's gratitude and that of its people to the United States' military members who died to liberate his country during the Persian Gulf War. Kuwait, he said, has experienced a political and economic rebirth since the late Iraqi dictator's forces were driven out 16 years ago.
"The victory of Operation Desert Storm will never, ever be forgotten," the Kuwaiti ambassador said. "Nothing can make up for the pain you have suffered or bring back your loved ones.
"But, the brave sacrifices of your loved ones were not meaningless or made in vain," he said. "It has meant so much to us Kuwaitis, and to other people in the [Middle East] region."
About 30 families attended the event, said Carmella LaSpada, director of the White House Commission on Remembrance.
Lisa Spain, 42, widow of Army Staff Sgt. William T. Butts, a helicopter door gunner who died in Iraq sixteen years ago, said she was grateful to attend the observance ceremony, wherever it was held.
"It's appreciated and hasn't gone unnoticed," said Spain, who has since remarried and lives in Atlanta. She attended this year's observance with her three daughters, Shannon, 23, and Lindsey, 17, from her marriage to Butts, and 7-year-old Lexi from her present marriage.
Butts died on Feb. 27, 1991, Spain said, during an aerial mission to rescue an Air Force F-16 pilot whose jet had crashed in Iraq. Butts' UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter was shot down by Iraqi forces, she recalled, killing five of the Blackhawk's eight-member crew.
Spain's husband died four hours after a cease-fire had been agreed to by the Iraqi government, she said. His remains are buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
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