Friday, February 27, 2015

The Wedding (suomeksi kts. Häät)


We were sitting in my sister's yellow little car on our way to Helsinki. Stephen's parents and sister were staying at my mom's house near Turku. We had an appointment with the pastor who would wed us at noon the following day.

In a little town called Salo, the car broke. We pulled over to a gas station, got the car running again and decided to get more gas. We fed a banknote into the automat to get gas only to realize that we could not fit all the gas we paid for in the tank. Frustration.

Driving on, we arrived in Helsinki, but before our destination, the car started to act up again. We managed to push it to yet another gas station and tried to call the pastor, who was waiting for us at the church. This was before mobile phones, so we failed.

Suddenly my brother walks in. He had seen the familiar car with the hood open and came to see if everything was ok. Praise God! Everything was ok once he had fixed the car so we could at least get home.

I started getting a fever, but we still had to go and bake the wedding cake at some friends' house. They had a good oven and mixer and had promised to decorate the cake for us in the morning. We went and baked the cake. I lay down on their kitchen floor to rest while the cake was in the oven. My nephew had agreed to pick up the cake and my friends in the morning before the wedding.

The following morning the groom decided that he is going to have a haircut after all. This was just two hours before the wedding would begin. We dashed around the city looking for a barbershop that would take walk-ins. When he was seated, I ran off to buy the wedding bouquet. We had tried to go the traditional way of ordering one at a florist, but I had cancelled it. I could not put over 60 euros into flowers! Instead, I purchased a perfectly functional bouquet at a florist nearby for under 5 euros.

Half an hour before the wedding was to begin, our friends called to report that my nephew had not shown and they were still waiting with the cake. I put on stockings, hairpins in my hair and we drove off to pick them up. Without panic or visible distress, they sat in the back seat when we tore off to the reception hall. Once the cake had been dropped off and the car parked, we hurried up the hill to the church. Know this: churches are always on top of a hill in Finland. I was flustered over my narrow wedding dress that did not permit any running.

When we came to the church, everybody was seated and the organist asked us what music we had in mind. It was a couple of minutes before the ceremony was to begin. We answered that wedding music would be fine.

Stephen gave me a kiss and dashed to the front of the church. The music began.

In a few moments I would be crying my eyes out at the altar and there are no pockets for Kleenex in wedding gowns.

3 comments:

  1. Hello Jaana Shelby. So good to know you through your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am glad to stop by your blog post but unfortunately due to the post blog in your language I am not able to read it but this gives me an opportunity to share about the program our church has for the young and adults from the West to come to Mumbai on a short / long term missions trip to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai with your friends or young people from your friends circle to work with us during your/ their vacation time. I am sure those who come will have a life chaging experience. My emai id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankihede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you.

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  2. Hello Jaana Shelby. So good to know you through your profile on the blogger and the blog post. I am glad to stop by your blog post but unfortunately due to the post blog in your language I am not able to read it but this gives me an opportunity to share about the program our church has for the young and adults from the West to come to Mumbai on a short / long term missions trip to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai with your friends or young people from your friends circle to work with us during your/ their vacation time. I am sure those who come will have a life chaging experience. My emai id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar Wankihede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. There was one truly remarkable moment in this story. That was when the car that we were using to get around in finally broke down in Helsinki. Anyone who has spent a few hours or days or weeks in Helsinki will immediately understand that finding a person, a car, a place in Helsinki is hard enough. Needle in a haystack as an idea comes close to capturing the fact of the situation. In this particular situation, Jaana's brother was not looking for us, he did not know we would be in Helsinki or where we would be in Helsinki or at what time we would be in Helsinki. He just happened to be finishing eating lunch in a building overlooking the exact spot where and at the exact same time when the car we were using broke down. This, in my book, is a miracle. We were in desperate need of help and help showed up full of food and ready and willing to help. I truly love Jaana's family and hope and pray that her family will be blessed forever.

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