Yesterday I took the day off work to help with the preparations for my co-worker's wedding. It rained all day.
She is having an outdoor wedding in Canada in October. They had a big portable heater running most of the time we were there to keep the big reception tent warm and the ground fairly dry (the tent was put up the day before when it wasn't raining, thankfully). A group of us put up a couple of smaller shelters for the catering company.
My job, of course, was running the audio/video (she had me booked before he proposed!). Where it was set up in the reception tent, it was leaking a bit. I had towels or cardboard over the amp and video projector. Being that this wedding was on a farm, I wore my best farm attire - including rubber boots!!
I had been watching daily updates on The Weather Network website the past few days. Today and tomorrow are the two sunniest, warmest days (relatively speaking) of the previous and next weeks. Clouds breaking up and sun on the way for this day! Yay; PTL!
My co-worker, Michelle, is getting married two weeks from today. It seems like every day they are finding new ways of expressing love to each other. The following screen capture is one of the ultimate love postings I've seen from her on Facebook. I did the audio and video for our Youth Pastor's wedding in February. I choked up and got all weepy, but I made it. This co-worker and her fiancé just totally bless my heart - their relationship is SO romantic. When I do the audio and video for their wedding, I just don't know if I'm going to crack into a big ball of mush.......
I've posted on this blog before about my co-worker who is a joy to be around. Her beau proposed with a Lite-Brite back in May; the same kind of thing he used when he first asked her to be his girlfriend - isn't that romantic? *sigh*
She got this idea in her head about how she wanted to do her wedding invitations - except that it meant each invitation was to be hand made in multiple steps and layers. All 200 of them. So she organized her friends after work and on a few weekends with "invitation parties" to make an assembly line of cutting, gluing, stamping and bow-tying. They are too cute not to show off. The flower is centered on the day of the wedding. (the names are smudged out in the unlikely event that those who weren't invited don't feel slighted - it wasn't anything personal, I probably wouldn't be invited either if I wasn't doing sound; just too small a venue for the reception..)
We all know them: people that are just parties looking for a place to happen. No matter what they do, it's got to be fun. Much of their day is spent laughing about something. You know when they are around and you certainly know when they are not.
As I've used her name many times in my blog, my co-worker, Michelle, is just such a person. On her desk is a brightly decorated candy jar with the label, “Jar of Non-Boringness”. The candy is free for anyone to take but there is a condition for contributions: “NOTE: If you wish to make a contribution to this jar, it only accepts various fun colours...ONLY!!”
I mean, look at her desk: a bright faux flower in her pen jar; the most ridiculous looking calculator I've ever seen, heart-shaped sticky notes (for cake no less!) and a Hoops and Yo-Yo(r) desk pad calendar.
Don't you wish you worked where I worked? Every day there is fun. Then there's my supervisor Neil. I'll get to him another time.
The conversations during breaks and lunch at work get interesting sometimes. Michelle, a co-worker I've alluded to in a couple of posts, is madly in love with her boyfriend. The history of how the two of them met and finally began going out together is one I love to hear over and over. It's a great testimony to the power of God. Just say his name directly to her face and her eyes begin glazing over – you can almost see little hearts floating upward. She has mentioned that when he does propose, she won't be coming in to work the following day; she wouldn't get anything done.
During this afternoon's break we began talking about wedding rings. Now on the Valentine's weekend, Michelle's boyfriend took her into a jewellery store so they could look at some rings. She pointed out to him things she liked and didn't like. But it all came down to this:
“Y'know, I don't even really care what kind of ring he gives me. I would even accept a twist tie — but then he's gonna get a black eye!”
A summer student who was with our company last year sent an update e-mail couple of days ago. She talked about how her room in the home where she lives while going to university is mostly purple. She writes, "My sister calls it a big purple hug. It is a very comfortable place for me to be." I took the phrase and wrote a reply entitled "Big Purple Comfort Hug". It just sounds warm and comforting to say it.
Well, one of my co-workers had a really rough day today. Hours of work was wasted because, somehow, the majority of radios she tuned ended up on an incorrect frequency. The electronics engineer couldn't figure it out, not with any accuracy, anyway.
I felt bad for her, so I asked one of my other co-workers (Michelle - from my "Validation" post) who worked side-by-side with her before I came along, to see if she knew of something that would supply a "Big Purple Comfort Hug". Michelle went to the lunchroom and made up a tasty, frothy hot chocolate for her. And then one for me! That was so sweet.
Michelle: you are an awesome co-worker!! Dan: you have an awesome girlfriend!
I stumbled across a video clip this afternoon. It made me think of a co-worker who actually says and writes the things in this video clip. I have proof (you know I do, Michelle)! P.S.: See my "Comfort" post for her awesome treatment of a co-worker.. Just to let you know: this clip is just over 16 minutes long.
And then one for me!
(unless you have dial-up; sorry Cheryl 
)
WIDGETIZE