4 Weddings and a funeral. Part III.

Today is Amy's Birthday. I am blessed to have such a wonderful wife. As I mentioned in my last post, we recently viewed our wedding video from way back in 1998. Amy and I had a short engagement, we were engaged in November of '97 and married in April '98. The week after I proposed, I went to Schlotsky's Deli on my lunch break and penned a song to be played at our Wedding. Schlotsky's Deli has long since closed, but our marriage still lives on, as does the song. Yes I did get the title from the song from the movie Jerry Maguire. Remember this song is a mission statement not a memo.

You Complete Me

Left my ego at the altar

Left my pride out in the pew

God has brought us both together

And he gives us love that's true

It feels so much like a movie

Best of friends who fell in love

As we walk this aisle together

I can feel His blessings from above

Chorus:

You are mine

I am yours

We are His

We have never been our own

One Flesh

One Love

One Family

You complete me

You complete me

God has made us for each other

As he's made us for Himself

I will love you when there's sickness

I will love you when there's health

There's a love that lasts forever

There's a love that's life it gives

It is founded in the Father

By it we know we are His

Chorus:

You are mine

I am yours

We are His

We have never been our own

One Flesh

One Love

One Family

You complete me

You complete me

Bridge:

Struggles come more often than the mail

We are weak, we know that we will fail

God gave us grace to help each other through

He sent us His Spirit

To guide us in whats true

Chorus:

You are mine

I am yours

We are His

We have never been our own

One Flesh

One Love

One Family

You complete me

You complete me.

Happy birthday Babe. You are so up!

Next Time: Six word Saturday meets Seven Word September.

Four Weddings and a Funeral Part II

My brother passed away earlier this year. He was not yet 39. He was the youngest boy and second youngest child. Yet he got married before either of his brothers.

Lynn (my brother's bride) had gotten a winter wedding dress on sale. Now a hint for you June Brides: Don't get a winter wedding dress! She looked lovely, even when she fainted during the wedding!

It was the last wedding my Grandpa Friedrichs would attend. Keith's middle name was Bertram just like my Grandpa's first name. I remember him dancing at the wedding and Amy and I driving my grandparents home after the wedding. My Grandpa passed away later that year.

I was finishing my second year of living in South Carolina when Keith got married. I came in for the wedding and also to land a job as I had decided that I was going to come back to Illinois and court Amy. I got the job, so after the wedding I went back to South Carolina for a few weeks to tie up loose ends before I started.

When Keith got married 3 of my grandparents were still living. They have all since passed. At the wedding I knew that their time was closing to an end. However I never expected that I would be eulogizing my brother in the same church he was married in less than 12 years later.

I wanted to write this post to commemorate Keith's anniversary back in June. I just couldn't find the words then. Even now the somberness of his death makes it hard to recount the great joy of his wedding.

I have sat for about 20 minutes since writing the last paragraph. Not with writers block, just going over in my mind the events preceding Keith's wedding and those following it. He and Lynn took a Disney Cruise for their Honeymoon. I remember what a great uncle Keith was to my children and how much he loved his own kids. Our families spent a lot of time together over the years. Kid's birthdays, scouting and church events, carnivals and cookouts. Tomorrow we will head over there for his daughter's sixth birthday party.

As much as I miss Keith, I continue to celebrate his wedding and his life by spending time with his family and reminding his children what a great Dad they had.



Next Time: Boys are from Idaho or Albuquerque

4 Weddings and a funeral, Part I

The FAQS of Life: My life in Frequently Asked Question Format
Today's Topic: 4 Weddings and a Funeral

Nothing brings a family together like a wedding. Except maybe a funeral. With the recent passing of my brother, Keith, I have decided to share a little about his funeral as well as his wedding, my wedding and the weddings of my two other married siblings. Today we will talk about my sister Kathy's wedding.

Q: Who was the first of your brothers and sisters to tie the knot?
A: I am pretty sure that it was me. It may have been my brother Chris; we were both in scouting at about the same time. I was a tad uncoordinated, so maybe him.
Q: I mean who was the first of you to get married?
A: Oh, sorry that would be my sister, Kathy. September 1, 1991. She married Andy.
Q: How did they meet?
A: Kathy met Andy at their 5 year Notre Dame reunion. They had not known each other previously, which how they were able to "meet". It turns out my father and Andy's had been Notre Dame classmates as well and had planned the whole thing out in the student union their sophomore year. All right that part is made up. But they did know each other.
Q: What was the significance of this wedding? A: Kathy moved to Virginia with Andy after the wedding so this was the last time the 5 of us would live in the same state.
Q: Was Amy involved in the wedding? A: Amy did not attend this wedding, as we were just college friends at the time, but her car did. Amy lent me her car so I could drive up for the wedding.
Q: What do you remember most about the wedding?
A: Like many young women, Kathy had been planning aspects of her wedding for years. But what was unusual, is that what Kathy had been planning was the music she would play at the reception. I think she had about 5 hours of must play songs. The song I remember the most was "I Knew the Bride When She Used to Rock and Roll."
Q: Before I ask my next question could you tell me what a smile and nod moment is?
A: Smile and nod refers to what our family does when one of our family members is acting kind of unusual. People tend to smile and nod at myself or my brothers and sisters and some of our cousins.
Q: Were there any smile and nod moments you recall from Kathy's wedding?
A: There were. My sister was the 2nd oldest of 29 grandchildren. The oldest grandchild came to the wedding wearing a very nice Indiana Jones hat.
Q: So you smiled and nodded when you saw him in the hat?
A: We smiled and nodded when he told us very proudly that he had sold his blood plasma in order to purchase the hat.
Q: Interesting. Where do I go after that?
A: Ask me what's coming up next time.
Q: What's coming up next time?
A: Next Time: An Open Letter to the Guy Behind Me.

Let's go fly a kite!

This morning Charlie and Lucy were keen to try out their new kites. I was more keen to stay home and mope around as I have the past two days. Kite flying won, and the three of us went out into the brisk windy day. Lucy with her Barbie kite and Charlie with his Air Force fliers. Charlie had his flying in no time. Lucy was a different story. It was too cold for her delicate sensibilities. I took her home, where she told me she'd like to fly the kite next time when it's not windy. Somebody needs a science lesson.

I returned to find Charlie mastering the art of kite flying. We made a fine morning of it. We even got a chance to let him start to process through the feelings of losing his uncle. I'm not processing nearly as well.

Perhaps, I should be less the catharsis smatharsis guy I have bragged about being here and use this blog as a place to sort out my feelings. I'm not sure that's who I am even now when a little catharsis could go a long way. These pages are about my family. Loving my wife and children. Training them in righteousness. Rejoicing in the good times. Even lamenting in the bad. So, I will just take things as they come here. If my grieving comes out here, so be it. If it doesn't, I will find a suitable place for it.

Keith always took an active interest in my family. Our children did quite a bit together and Keith was a big part of that. During one of his last hospital stays, I was able to use this blog to show him how Charlie and Emma were biking without training wheels. Now there is one small way I can use this blog in memory of him . My brother and I, along with the rest of our family, were often throwing movie quotes around. As an homage to him I am going to begin titling as many posts as I can with movie titles or quotes.

With that in mind ... Soon: 4 Weddings and a Funeral

Next Time: The write thing at the right time.