A country wedding

As I sit down to write tonight, two thoughts come to mind: 1) I'm officially a father-in-law now; 2) I don't think there's any way to do justice to telling the tale of Jordan and Jamie's wedding. But I'll try.

On Sunday afternoon, Nov. 22, slightly more than 100 people gathered in folding chairs on the grass to see a handsome, suntanned young man, with a military haircut and his crisp Army uniform, and a beautiful blonde, blue-eyed young woman, wearing a sleeveless, low-cut white wedding gown, join their lives together in marriage.

The ceremony took place at the Lake Creek Historical Society grounds, about 20 miles northeast of Medford, and a million miles from the dense, urban area that's my normal.

They stood -- between two oak trees a few yards from clear, rushing waters of Lake Creek -- and gazed at each other as if they were the only two people on Earth. I felt that way when I married Lori 34 years ago, and the memories came flooding back watching our son and his bride.

If there was a theme to the day, it was City Meets Country. And I mean that in a positive way. On Jamie's side sat dozens of people, clad in blue jeans, leather vests, pearl-button shirts and cowboy hats. On Jordan's side sat men in sport coats and neckties and women in long dresses. No denim and no cowboy hats for that crowd.

A couple of older men on horseback had set up in the road outside the grounds to direct people with their cars. Jamie walked in, on her father's arm, to Alison Krauss' enchanting song, "A Living Prayer." Inside Pioneer Hall, a home-cooked buffet of teriyaki chicken, pasta salad, green salad, baked potatoes with all the fixings, and three kinds of pie. The deejay played Keith Urban and Lee Ann Womack along with Van Morrison and James Brown.

From start to finish, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching myself in a movie. Going into the men's room to have a few words with Jordan before the ceremony began; walking with Lori, arm in arm, to our seats in the front row; rising to grab the mike and offer a toast...all of it felt pretty surreal.

Of course, the evening went all too fast. Before we knew it, the dancing had come to a close, Jamie and Jordan had departed in a stretch limo for two nights in the honeymoon suite at the historic Jacksonville Inn, and friends and family were pitching in to fold tables, put away chairs, sweep the floors, box up leftovers and generally just clean up.

It's amazing to think that people can search a lifetime for their soulmate and never find him or her. And others? They're fortunate, like Jamie and Jordan, to recognize what they have in each other and to see past the superficial differences. How unlikely that they would even meet -- she a country girl, raised on a horse ranch in tiny Butte Falls, Oregon, spending the summer at a youth camp outside Portland one year; he a city boy, raised in the heart of Oregon's largest city and yet longing to be in the wide-open spaces. What a fluke that he would take the horsemanship class taught by Jamie that summer. Otherwise, how else would they have met?

My 82-year-old mom, Theresa, came up from Fremont and my best friend from high school, Al Rodriguez (also our best man those many years ago), came up from Santa Barbara to join us for the big event. Nathan, Jordan's older brother, served as best man. Simone, accompanied by her partner Kyndall, helped out wherever needed and mingled with our guests, including a contingent of friends whose sons and daughters have grown up with Jordan, beginning with preschool -- and even earlier.

As I said above, I don't think there's a way to fully tell the story of Jordan and Jamie's wedding. I can say the two of them have our love and total respect. In the past year, it seems that both of them have grown into more mature, self-confident individuals, totally committed to each other as a lifelong pair. This week, they'll have an early Thanksgiving with her parents and then hit the road in Jamie's Jetta, bound for El Paso, Texas, and Fort Bliss, where they'll make their home while Jordan continues with advanced infantry training. Once they get settled, Jamie can look for work, too, as a licensed veterinary technician.

We wish them peace and happiness.

(Wedding photos will be posted soon. The one above? Taken at the Rede Reunion in July.)