A Toast to the Red Thread!

Well, on New Year's Day we got my sister Kim and Brian well and truly married. A great start to 2010! It was a lovely and casual ceremony, with Kim wearing a purple Celtic dress and Brian wearing a kilt (yes, the girls asked him what was worn under a kilt, and he replied, "Nothing worn. Everything in good working order!").

Maya and Zoe decided when they heard that Kim was getting married that they would be the flower girl and ring bearer. No, they were never invited to be the flower girl and ring bearer, because Kim didn't want a flower girl or ring bearer! That did not stop Maya from wandering around our house tossing imaginary petals from a basket, or Zoe from taking stately steps holding a small pillow. So when Kim heard about this, we had to quickly improvise basket, petals and pillow. The girls were adorable, with the crowd going "ahhhh" with the first toss of the petals. Zoe kept the rings on the pillow despite one coming untied. Good job, girls!

Now, "casual wedding" also translated to "unplanned!" For instance, the schedule for the ceremony included a cider toast, and when I asked Kim who was making the toast, she said, "I don't know!" Yikes, I could never operate that way! Still, I didn't have an inkling what was coming when Kim asked me to corral the crowd for the toast (I assumed she was just taking advantage of my extremely well-developed bossiness skills!).

So everyone was gathered for the toast, everyone had lovely glasses of hard cider (which was yummy, btw, my first time to taste hard cider!), and Kim says, "You make the toast." Whaaaaaaat? How nice -- 2 seconds warning.

Not knowing what else to say, I told the crowd the Chinese legend of the red thread (which of course actually applies to lovers, not parent and child as we China adoptive parents would like to think!), that those meant to be together are connected by a red thread, and that no matter how long or how tangled the thread might become, it will not break, and it will bring together those so connected. I said that the red thread had finally brought Brian and Kim together -- raise your glass to toast the red thread and the new couple it brought together! (Or at least that's what I think I said -- for all I know it was all incoherent babbling!)

Whew! Good thing that red thread legend is all over adoption-land (I have to say I don't usually appreciate it there! (In fact, I sometimes visualize that thread strangling the poor child in "meant to be.")). It really saved me, so I'll put aside my aversion for now!

We're back home in Texas now. It was a great visit, and the girls' "daddy-need" really asserted itself on this trip with Brian being so nice and attentive. Maya said she wanted to stay in Vermont and have Kim as her mom so that Brian could be her daddy! Both girls followed him around like little ducks newly imprinted on a parent. Zoe decided that Brian's mom was her new grandmother, but was disappointed to discover that the marriage didn't make her cousin Aaron (Kim's son) her brother now. Sheesh, a person could get a complex!
(That's Zoe & Maya with cousin/brother Aaron)