So we headed down to Kansas City. On our way to the interstate we stopped at Quicktrip to pick up some water and top off the gas tank (3 gallons). We headed west on 80 and then stopped by Best Buy to pick up a new tap adapter for my iPod. And were off south the the Big KC.
Intially we thought the tape adapter might be bad, but we cranked up the volume on both the iPod and the car stereo and listened. It just seemed wierd cause it was so quiet. So we talekd a little, I sang along with the music a little, like I do.
So we lost the final directions that were sent to us on how to get to the chruch from the highway, so we kinda drove around and around finding other churches (Methodist, Episcopal, etc) but no Catholic church. It was a good thing we got there early. So, finally, after a little exploring we found it! But we were still early...so we found some stores to wander around in. Started off in a pet store, then wondered around a K-Mart. Then headed back to the church.
So we parked and went in. It was a fairly big and fairly new church. I think the stone on the front said that it was built in 1997. So the Saint Therese Catholic Church of Kansas City was built nice. I don't know if I like the insides so much...It was nice, but it doesn't seem so Catholicy...at least not like the ones I've been too. Seemed more "really big churhchy" to me. Not a whole lot of stained glass either (which is something I like). On the way out, I noticed that Saint Therese looked really creapy when it was dark on the inside. The face, espicially. But on the outside and night it looked much better. Some of the things about the chapel were...well...just unbalenced, to me. I dunno.
Anyhoo. I assume that it was a full Catholic wedding, cause, well it was long, but I wouldn't know for sure, since I've never been to a Catholic wedding before. So there were lots of standing and sittings, and they were nice enough to say that if we didn't want to kneel, that we didn't have too. There were lots of tie in's between the marriage and raising the kids Catholic and remining Catholic and all that...it was actually really quite a lot of that. It was very pretty though. The lasso (shaped in an infinity loop), the 13 coins (symbolizing Jesus and the 12 apostles), those are kinda cool mexican wdding traditions.
So after the ceremony, we got the gift from the car and headed downstairs. Is it wrong to bring a Buddha candle holder in a Catholic Church? Well they asked for it...so... The basement of the church was pretty expansive and nice. The catering and cake were done by Hy-vee so it was pretty nice. The food was ok, the best thing about it was the chips and salsa. But I guess I can be just a food Zealot sometimes. The music was a blend of mostly Mexician sounds and country with a few others thrown in. The crowd had a few standouts. Lotta older gentleman with big beards and long hair, but that's cool. The cake was acutally pretty good. I had a slice of the wedding cake (white) and a pile (little small pices) of the grooms cake (chocolate).
While going to the bathroom, I chatted a bit with Penny's Uncle (an older gentleman, with a beard, and a little crook in his back) and he told me about how marriage was forever and how him and his wife of 43 years had eloped. It was kinda cool. I told him that I had about a year left before my marriage.
So around 9 something we decided it'd be time to drive home. We had brought clothes, but we didn't change into them. I took of my tie and untucked my shirt and changed my shoes, but after that we headed back the way we came.
After struggling and almost giving up on the tape adapter and the iPod, I finally figured out how to change sides on the tape player and...well...sunddenly it worked great. Yeah I felt like a big gigantic dumbass.
So we drove home and just a little across the Iowa border we stopped for gas at a Shell station. I guess they hadn't heard yet that gas prices were reciding, cause the price for premium was just under $3 a gallon. Oh well...we filled up the tank and drove the rest of the way home.
One thing that this made me realize was that I really am looking forward to getting married to Shannon, and I don't know if I'll be able to hold it together when we are finally up there saying our vows.