Marvis, Rathskeller, A Love Story, Mexico Love Magic, My 3rd Wedding Soup

“So it’s not going to be easy. It will be hard; we will have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, every day. You and me... every day.”
― Nicholas Sparks

Good morning, good evening, or good afternoon; we all live differently, so thank you for taking a moment to ingest my work.  It’s wedding day here, more about that later; it’s 7:00 a.m. here; I have two dogs, PVHT and our kids GSP Griffy, who are rambunctious.  They have been fed and are now out destroying our courtyard, but it will give me a little peace, those two play nonstop.

We spent our day running some morning errands, then headed back to host an event; cousin and Skeeter are here to help. After that, my Queen and I headed to rehearsal, and they stayed around to set up our private event for the wedding party.  The space for the wedding and all that comes after is a stunning event center located about .5 miles from our Indianapolis home.  It’s called Marvis and if you ever want weddings in the area, check it out! Three floors of glorious décor and atmosphere.

https://www.mavris.net/

I shared the love story of our daughter Carly before, her friend Bailey’s little troublesome but funny brother Nick.  Telling his mother and father at age 12, he was going to marry Carly Durr. So when he was ten, and our kid was 14 (she’s a cougar), she, her mother, Bailey, and her mother returned from Aruba, where they went for spring break.  Nick met them at the airport with his father and brother holding a sign that said “CARLY” in big letters and a photo he had stolen from his sister.

After that day, young Nick would Facebook message Carly, these messages were discovered years later, but his first message to our kid was “Hey Gurl!”  Did Bailey tell you I like you? She does that sometimes, and I do.” Of course, I’m paraphrasing, but the ten-year-old kid and future first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Ray’s in 2018 out of high school had game.

Fast forward to last February before the Pandemic; we traveled to Mexico with our friends, the Schnells.  Jay, Angie, Aaron, finance Kate, Nick, Carly, my Queen and me, and Cousin.   I’m not sure what happened, but Nick used some of his love magic in Mexico and got our daughter’s attention.   When the season was cut short a month later, he told his mom and dad he thought it best to be in Denver to keep practicing his craft. 

On March 15th, Nick, his sister, and our daughter arrived at our mountain house, and we spent an unbelievable sixty days of love, laughter, and it became evident that these kids were falling in love.  Nick returned home to work on his skills back in Indy; Carly returned along with Bailey; they lived in Indy for a couple of months before returning to our mountain top chalet.

During the next visit, Nick asked if he could have some one-on-one time, and I thought, oh shit, here we go.  He confided that he had bought a home about 20 minutes from our Indianapolis home and planned on asking Carly for her hand but needed our approval.  Nick Schnell is in the top 1% of all young men I’ve met during my 52 years; I nodded “hell yes,” as did my wife, and this summer, we returned to Indy.

One evening, Nick took Carly out, and people from all over the country flew in to surprise her and watch Nick ask the question.  Our cars were hidden around the neighborhood; we hid in the living room.  When they came in, Nick turned in front of his family and friends and asked our daughter for her hand.  She said YES! as he slipped the ring on his finger, I watched as he looked at his mother and father smiling, and I thought I saw a thought bubble appear above his head that read, “I told you!”

The wedding was set for 11/27/2021; the venue was selected, dresses ordered; Angie is an excellent craftswoman.  She made many centerpieces and organized the showers; my Queen had saved this big day; it was a dream team effort to arrange a beautiful wedding day.  About five weeks ago, we learned that they had jumped the gun, they wanted a honeymoon baby, but accidents happen, and so not only do we get a fine young man joining our family, we get a grandchild in May.  There will be no promise ring ceremony at this wedding.

The rehearsal was fantastic; once the wedding party was set, Carly’s father walked her down the aisle, and I turned to look, and Nick was holding up a sign that said “CARLY,” and it had the same photo as the original sign from years ago.  I think this was Angie’s idea; it was a belly laugh moment.  After the rehearsal, everyone came to our home where cousin and Skeeter had turned our house into a mini-event center; we had about 40 folks here. We had a couple of drinks before all meeting at the world-famous Rathskeller for our rehearsal dinner.

https://rathskeller.com/

The meal was fantastic, Jay’s speech was beautiful, and we made it home by 8:00 to get some rest before our big day.  The bride’s mother is still slow asleep; the dogs are trying to wake her, cousin and Skeeter are still sleeping; I got a great night of rest and am up to making coffee, soup, and some liquid I.V., I’m learning the value of morning hydration.

I’m excited to see many of my family members flying or driving in; I booked a room for my parents at the Alexandar, my sister and Kenny will stay there as well as my cousin Tia and her husband, Chris.  I have three kids, two I made and one I didn’t, but I love them just the same.  This kid is our last to move off the reservation, and I am so excited for these two young, loving people to start their next phase of life.

Cheers, sometimes I’m folksy, and sometimes I like to agitate; today, I’ll file this one in my folksy family-friendly file.  I hope these words made you smile; I smiled as I penned these thoughts; life is fantastic and filled with wonder.  Family is one of the most important aspects of life, and today we welcome the Schnell’s into our family.   Like the Thompson’s, they are a values-based, loving family.  And I can’t wait to spend the next 60 or so years watching our kids grow attended sporting events and holding our grandkids. So today, I chose to make wedding soup!

“So it’s not going to be easy. It will be hard; we will have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, every day. You and me... every day.”
― Nicholas Sparks