Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

I’m Pink Lady Apple Yeggs and my friend, and brother-in-law, Deviled Yeggs suggested that I record each project that I set up in the hopes of reforming the people who continue to work for Lily the Pink Enterprises.  If for no other reason, it would show how God is at work.

The word has gotten out, but we have not started advertising.  A lot of folks want to book a wedding in the Crystal Mountain here at Lily the Pink.  Some say that they love the year-round warm weather.  Some say they love the ambiance of a jungle and a wedding next to a swimming pool.  Some like the smell of cider cooking on one side and a bakery baking on the other.  The poultry and rabbit areas are outside the Crystal Mountain.  It is close enough to hear the roosters in the morning, but at least they do not have to worry about those smells.  And the waterfall is used as a backdrop for wedding pictures unless the bride is worried about her hair.  And we have our own official wedding photographer, my niece, Jemima L. Yeggs, a.k.a. Stinker.

But this wedding was a gift to an elderly couple.  Harold Dykstra is a widower, retired as a traveling salesman for an engineering company.  His children were concerned that he might need a helper in his older years, so they fixed up the upstairs bedrooms into a delightful one-bedroom apartment.  Barbara Bounty, who retired early from a not-so-nice line of work, rented the apartment as soon as it was advertised.  She had dreams about Harold, and she had to be the person who would be his eventual caregiver.  Of course, they fell in love.

But the way that I met them is that Harold worked every food bank in the big city of Tracy.  He talked to people.  When Barbara joined him, she helped with distribution when needed or she sat with Harold and gave a woman’s perspective to the conversations.  This work brought Harold into the spotlight when my brother-in-law, Deviled Yeggs started the Feeding Homeless At Tracy (FHAT) program that is sponsored by the Police and Fire Auxiliaries.  They needed a wordsmith who knew how to sell.  Harold has been working with Mary Sheltie Jones, a.k.a. Bossy Boss (B.B.).  He provides the words.  She provides video and editing.  The advertisements bring in a lot of donations, and there are three donors who match the donations.

So, I had to volunteer the Crystal Mountain for their wedding.  They finally decided on Shrove Tuesday.  We had never made a big deal about Ash Wednesday, so a Mardi Gras theme for Shrove Tuesday was kind of meaningless, but we have gone all out this year, and we may repeat the celebration in coming years.  We have partied for two days already, almost disrupting the wedding rehearsal.

There was a rigged king cake for the rehearsal dinner.  For those who are not familiar with Mardi Gras customs, a king cake is prepared.  There is a tiny plastic baby Jesus buried somewhere within the cake.  The person who gets that piece of cake with the “king” in it is the “king” of the party and treated as such.  But there is a catch.  The king must provide the king cake next year.  The king must also host the party.  My husband’s bakery will supply the cake.  Lily the Pink will do all the decorating and planning, so all the “king” must do next year is pay for just the cake and greet everyone and then pass the crown over to the new king or queen.  Since we would have a groom at the Shrove Tuesday party, Harold had to get the piece with the baby Jesus, or Barbara, known to all of us simply as Babs.

I have not discussed the renovation in the Big House.  The large living room is across the hall from my office.  We knocked out the wall so that I can see who is waiting during my open door hours, which is most of the day.  But with the Crystal Mountain as a wedding venue, we placed a wall in the middle of the living room to create a Bride’s Room. The bride can get dressed.  There is a full bathroom attached.  If she gets there in plenty of time, she can lounge in a bubble bath with water jets to relax her before the big moment.  There is plenty of room to sit with family and take pictures.  For the wedding photographs in the bride’s room, Jemima insists on having the Bride’s Room decorated similar to the main venue, but she has a set of backdrops permanently installed for photographs with any season in mind.  Thus, the Bride’s Room has a double duty when schedules allow.  To be honest, when schedules allow, Gwen Quinn, my best friend, my sister from another mother and the president at Lily the Pink, uses the room for intimate discussions with very small groups of employees.

Babs insists that she is in her early fifties, but she looks a lot younger.  She walks daily, even in bad weather.  And I have never seen her without a smile on her face.  It took a lot of effort to convince Babs that she did not need her glasses during the wedding.  I think she wears them for reading, and as a disguise.  She became well-known during her wanton career early in life.  But she would have a veil until the kiss.  And Jemima insisted on at least four Mississippis for the kiss and no more than eight.  More than that gets creepy, less than four and she might not get the photo.

The wedding dress was lovely.  It accentuated the curves that Babs usually hid in her old-fashioned attire.  But her dress had no train.  It was not even floor length, rather slightly above ankle length.  Babs would dance in the dress, and I have seen them practice.  She is getting to be good at swing dancing, even with a dress that long.  But Babs told me that she did not want a train.  The train signifies who you are a princess or queen, if only for a moment.  She knows she will be the center of attention, but she did not wish to portray herself above Jesus.

Half the wedding party was family.  The best man was Harold’s son, Morrie.  The matron of honor was Harold’s daughter, Wilhelmina (Willie).  The pastor is Gil Whitefield, Willie’s husband.  He would be assisted by our own Rev. Joseph Jones, husband of the aforementioned Mary Sheltie Jones.  The flower girl and ring bearer are Willie’s children, Janella and Jayke. Morrie’s wife, Sadie, walked with Captain Al Hart since Harold and Babs go to the same church as the Harts.  Morrie’s children, Matthew and Madison Dykstra, walked with Mercy (Mercedes) and Mike Lothrop Kildare.  Matthew and Mercy had dated a couple of times, just friends, but I think they would call each other if they had a party to attend.  Maddie and Mike were freshmen at Flintheart High.  They claim to be best friends on social media, but they are not dating. TomCat (Thomas and Catherine ver Waarloosd) were in the wedding party, along with Tony Painter with Mary Jo Lynn and Tony’s son Joe walking with Grace Grunge.  Tony and Joe were very close to Babs, almost like they were family.  And Dev Yeggs walked Babs down the aisle.  The bridesmaids’ dresses were a forest green, each with a removable purple sash.  I think Babs picked out a good design that could be worn at other times, especially in a month for St. Patrick’s Day.  The guys all had black tuxedos with purple ruffled shirts and a green bowtie.  A little hint of gold here and there and they looked ready for a Mardi Gras party.

The processional went well.  Little Joe and Grace smiled, looked at each other, and giggled a few times.  Joe will not be driving for maybe another 6-7 years, but then the Grunge family might need to worry.  But then Janella must have been worried about running out of flower petals early.  She got near the front and she had a lot left over, so she gave huge handfuls to the ladies that had aisle seats.  Wilma threw her handful into the air, showering petals on people in three rows.  That prompted the other ladies who had a handful of flower petals to do the same thing.

Lilith and Curtis West sang a song that they wrote.  Otherwise, it was what Babs had selected.  The band was the Snazzy Taz band with Emmett.  Shrove Tuesday is usually a great time to have an excuse to party, but the Taz never did well on Tuesday nights.

Then they added a little wrinkle to the wedding vows.  They adapted the Worldwide English version.

Babs said, “I will obey my husband as I obey the Lord.”

Harold said, “I will love my wife, just as Christ loved the church people. He gave his life for the church, and so I love my wife in a sacrificial manner as Christ loved me.”

They wanted to express their love in that way.  Most translations use the word “submit”, but Babs wanted to say obey.  Babs and Harold know that in doing it God’s way, it will work out in their best interests.  There were a few people in the audience that murmured that they could not believe that she said “obey.”

It might have been the collective imaginations of Dev, Poached, Jim Wednesday, and myself, but when they said, “I do.”  We all thought we heard a giggle similar to Babs voice, but maybe a little younger, and then the sound of giant wings flapping, followed by a breeze coming from behind the wedding couple that blew past us in the seats near the front.  We compared notes afterward, and we all thought it might be Harold’s guardian angel, who indwelled the young Babs before the human Babs showed up.  Later, some of Jemima’s photos had a blurred double image that she could not explain.  Luckily with a digital camera, she was taking multiple photos of every setting.

I was told something later by Wilma.  During the ceremony, Mitzi had her hand on her knee.  Baldy placed his hand on hers and without acknowledging each other, they intertwined their fingers and held hands.  They continued to hold each other’s hand until the bride and groom left the Crystal Mountain.  Mitzi was starting to see some humanity in Baldy.  Baldy was starting to see the benefits of courtship and not getting physical right away.  But that was the easy part.  He’d never had any success before now.

The reception started with the introduction of the new married couple.  Then the wedding party was introduced.  Babs and Harold went to the dance floor for the first dance as a married couple.  I think Bea and Bro’s dance studio got it’s biggest advertisement when Harold and Babs stumbled a little, just walking out onto the dance floor, and tentatively taking a couple of steps.  Then the beat cranked up a little, and then a lot more tempo.  They lulled everyone into thinking they were novices, and they had been novices only months before.  It seemed their confidence grew with each new move.  And a lot of people said they thought they could do that and that it looked like fun.  Then again, they had months of practice for one dance.

After the applause, Babs and Harold took their seats at the head table.  It was time for the best man and matron of honor speeches.  I knew the true story, but I wonder if Morrie and Willie knew.  It seemed that they have no recollection of buying the life-sized poseable action figure for their Dad.  It is as if Babs back story was changed in their memories.

Morrie spoke first, “I could talk for days about Dad because he’s Dad.  He was loving, but he was strict.  Our trouble started with Willie’s and my birth mother trusting us when she decided to go with Dad on the road.  She did not want him to be perceived as traveling alone.  So, once they were far enough away, we started partying, or I partied and roped Willie into that lifestyle a little bit.  We knew this was not what Dad wanted, but we were young and stupid.  I was an adult, with children of my own when Babs came into the picture.  She was Dad’s replacement travel buddy after my birth mother had died, and she asked me questions that I did not wish to answer.  But in the end, I started to go to church again, and I found that I needed Jesus in my life every day of the week.  All because of a bubbly smile and some simple questions.  If you ask Babs about Jesus, she will refer you to Dad.  She will not admit to knowing a lot, but she knows how to ask questions.  She knows how to love you.  She knows what true love is.  And I wish both her and Dad a long life to share that love with each other.”

Willie got up next, “I agree with what Morrie said, and I am so glad that Babs is in our family.  Matthew and Madison said we needed a different name.  Beppe was my mother’s name for grandma.  It’s Friesian.  Pake is Grandpa.  Jayke suggested that we simply call her Grand Babs.  Janella shortened that to Grabbabs.  I hope the grandchildren never grab her abs, but the name has stuck.  But I love Babs for one reason above all others.  Dad is alive again.  Dad had been a traveling salesman.  Dad had been the caregiver for my mother.  Much of the time, he was both of those things.  Now, Babs can make a suggestion and Dad not only gets up to start working on her suggestion, but he has laughter in his heart.  I could talk for hours, but my husband is a pastor, and he learned long ago, to make your point and sit down.  But, thank you, Babs for bringing laughter back to the Dykstra home.”

Then, the food came out on a variety of carts.  They formed four serving lines.  Then, Babs gasped.  The people serving were a combination of homeless people from the FHAT (Feeding Homeless At Tracy) and a few of the food bank recipients.  They all wanted to give back.  Plus, I paid for their clothing.

The wedding party had fun during their dance.  They did some synchronized dance moves and then they showed what each couple could do.  Even Grace and Little Joe showed some dance moves.  But when it became open dancing, Babs encouraged Jayke to ask Gretchen Grunge for a dance.  With that done, she asked Dennis Morissey if he would like to ask Janella.  They had no idea what they were doing or how to do what they wanted to do, but they laughed and had a good time trying.

The cake cutting went as most cake cuttings go, at least the ones that have no incidents.

The bouquet toss was caught by Mercedes.  Of those in the wedding party, she was the oldest that was not married, but as far as anyone knew, Mercy and Matthew were not serious.  Both of them had college to think about.

But as the dancing was winding down, Amy came over to hint that the wedding couple’s ride to the airport was ready to go, all things packed.

Credits

About the only Credit is that the order of events at the reception is similar to a few that I found online.  I cannot remember anything about my wedding reception other than mumbling that if the photographer did not quit taking photos, I was going to shove his camera where “the sun don’t shine.”  From my viewpoint, the entire reception was photographs.  We had no band and no dancing, which seem to be the big thing these days.