Episode 21: January 2007
The highlights of the month include:
• Indian Wedding in Stillwater, Oklahoma
• Las Vegas
• International Ice Sculpture Competition in Plymouth, Michigan
• Julie’s visit to Midland
• Weekend in Chicago with Julie and Dad
We last left you as we were ringing in the New Year in Midland, Michigan with my mom. Two days later, the three of us left for Stillwater, Oklahoma, to visit Neal’s parents and take part in our second wedding in less than a year! This time, we were going to enjoy an Indian wedding, which Neal’s parents had tirelessly planned for us. Ravi and Surekha wanted to host a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony followed by a reception for all the family and friends in the U.S. who could not attend the wedding in Australia.
After arriving in Oklahoma City, we drove to a Hindu temple in the city suburbs to meet the priest that would conduct the ceremony. We ran through a brief rehearsal of the wedding ceremony with him and learned a little bit about the significance of certain Indian wedding traditions. That was just the start of a whirlwind three days. The next day, close friends and family from outside of Oklahoma began to arrive from New Jersey, California, Texas, and New York. Neal’s parents hosted all of these guests for lunches and dinners so that they could all see us, give us gifts (which also involve rituals, such as putting crushed red powder, called kumkum, and turmeric on our foreheads), and enjoy each other’s company. The night before the wedding was the most fun, as Neal’s parents hosted a Mehendi ceremony – in which the bride-to-be is adorned with henna art – which ended in the early hours of the wedding day.
The big day was Saturday. The wedding ceremony began at 10 am and only a select group of 50-60 people were invited to attend. The first 45 minutes of the ceremony were dedicated to introductory rituals that only involved Neal and the priest. My mom got a starring role in the whole thing and was asked to sit at the front of the stage and encouraged to actively participate in many of the rituals. While that part of the ceremony was going on, I was being fussed over by seven ladies trying to dress me perfectly in a saree while adorning me with intricate jewelry. Eventually, I made my entrance into the room where the ceremony was held, led by Purti (Neal's cousin), who threw flower petals at my feet, and then followed by five of Neal's cousins, who were my proxy bridesmaids and were all dressed in beautiful sarees of their own. The ceremony was really fun and quite moving. Although all the chanting was done in Sanskrit, the priest occasionally stopped and explained the major portions of the ceremony in English. Some of the beautiful symbolism incorporated throughout the ceremony included:
• Milni: uniting of the families;
• Jai Mala: exchanging of garlands, signifying that we have chosen each other to be lifelong companions;
• Kanyadan: giving away of the bride by the bride’s mother;
• Gathbandhan: tying of the knot – the ends of the scarves worn by both of us are tied together, with the knot symbolizing our eternal bond;
• Wedding Symbols: Neal promises me lifelong protection by offering me a sacred necklace (mangalsutra) and then he places kumkum on my forehead – these two offerings signify the mark of a married woman, as well as standing as a symbol of Neal’s love, integrity, and devotion;
• Mangal Phere: circling the sacred fire (Agni) four times to signify Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (salvation);
• Saptapadi: taking seven circles around the fire, which signify the seven vows we shared;
• Ashirvad: receiving blessings from the family.
The ceremony was followed by a lunch, and then we all took a four-hour break. We spent that time at home, first resting and then changing into our reception clothes. Neal wore his wedding suit from the Australia wedding. I wore a new saree, redid my makeup, and even donned new jewelry. The dinner reception was much larger than the wedding – there were over 120 guests! The highlight of the reception was when five of Neal's cousins performed a show of traditional Indian dancing for all the guests. After that, the dance floor was opened up to some Bollywood dancing lessons, courtesy of Neal’s cousins. It was like a scene from the movie “Monsoon Wedding”! (Speaking of…if our descriptions have gotten you curious about Indian weddings or just in the mood for a cultural couple of hours, watch the movie “Monsoon Wedding”!)
The day after the wedding and reception, we left Stillwater, Oklahoma, and boarded a plane for Las Vegas, where we spent the last four days of my mom’s trip. We spent our time walking through each of the fantastic hotels, admiring the creativity put into each of them. We have decided that our favorite hotels are the Venetian, Paris, New York New York, and Luxor. While we were there, we saw the newest Cirque du Soleil production, “Love”, which is choreographed entirely to the music of the Beatles. Mom’s favorite Las Vegas attraction, by far, was the water fountain show in front of the Bellagio hotel. Every 15 minutes, the seemingly quiet lake erupts and “dancing” water fountains perform a choreographed routine to carefully chosen pieces of music. Gotta admit…it really is amazing to watch. We even had a visitor while we were in Las Vegas. One of my closest girlfriends from high school, Nat, flew in from San Diego just to spend one day with us!
After spending two wonderful weeks with mom, it was time for our last hugs before bidding her farewell as she boarded her flight back to Melbourne, Australia. After seeing mom off, we headed back to the hotel and spent one more night lingering around Las Vegas before heading back to Midland the next morning.
While we were in Las Vegas, winter finally arrived in Michigan. When we left Michigan for Oklahoma, there was no snow on the ground and temperatures were unusually warm. Upon our return, there was plenty of snow around, and the daily high temperature was well below freezing! So, for our first weekend back in Michigan, we decided to do something that embraces winter. We drove to the pretty little town of Plymouth, Michigan, to witness something that only people in cold weather places can appreciate: an international ice sculpture competition. We watched in awe, as participants created amazing works of art out of blocks of ice. Neal’s friend from business school, Paul, met us there for coffee, which gave us a great excuse to escape the freezing cold (it was about -5 degree Celsius). After catching up with Paul, we headed to a nearby Ikea where we had as crazy an experience as we had in the Ikea in Zürich. The next day, we visited the toboggan park in Midland and did a few runs there. It was a great way to spend some time outdoors while having some fun in the snow.
The following week, we welcomed our next visitor to our Midland house: my stepmom, Julie, who came to spend a few days with us. After spending a long weekend in Mexico with Dad, Julie left Dad, who had more work to attend to, and came to Midland. Although we could not take much time off work, we were able to join her for lunches and spend time with her in the evenings. One night we went to the Midland Center for the Arts to see a great play called “Smoke and Mirrors”. It was a comedy-mystery and was done very well. Overall, it was fantastic to have Julie come and see where we live.
On the last Friday in January, we put Julie on a flight to Chicago, and a few hours later we followed suit and met her and Dad in the “Windy City” later that evening. After meeting at our hotel, we headed out for a typical Chicago-style dinner of the biggest steaks I have ever seen (regardless of how small you order them) and caught up on all of each other’s lives. We spent Saturday exploring the great shops that Michigan Avenue has to offer and walked to Millenium Park to see the famous, mirrored “Bean.” It was frightfully cold that weekend (around -5 to -10 degrees Celsius), so we took every opportunity to duck inside a store to defrost before continuing. That evening, we had another great dinner at a Vietnamese-inspired restaurant (the portions were much more reasonable this time) and a relaxing night-cap drink.
On Sunday we decided not to brave the cold and instead go for breakfast before visiting the Chicago Field Museum. The Field Museum is one of Chicago’s biggest museums and is dedicated to the natural sciences, such as paleontology and animal and human evolution. We barely got through one or two of the exhibitions before we had to get back to the airport and part ways with Dad and Julie.
The few weeks we spent at work this month kept us both busy, as we continue to find ourselves enjoying the challenges that our jobs offer. Outside of work, the weather is certainly challenging now, with temperatures very low (and staying low) through the days and nights. The weatherman says that we have more cold weather in store for us – and no doubt many more adventures! Until then, take care!
