How to Enjoy St. Louis

I have recently returned from the great city of St. Louis. I went for the wedding of my childhood friend/surrogate brother, Mark Spencer, to the lovely Miss Susanna Hasser. Since my departure for St. Louis, Susanna's hometown, she has changed her last name, both legally and on facebook, to Mrs. Susanna Spencer. The couple really are perfect for each other in a million different ways ranging from their witty senses of humor to a shared love of the Traditional Latin Mass to a desire to fully follow the command to "be fruitful and multiply" to a love of red velvet cake.
The wedding was wonderful. The bridesmaids wore teal dresses, which looked lovely on all six gorgeous ladies. I know that there is a movie that claims that teal bridesmaid dresses severely shorten the duration of a marriage, but that's a lot of crap. What shortens the duration of a marriage is the intent of the parties entering into it.
Anyway, since we went to St. Louis, my parents and I decided to visit the Gateway Arch on Friday evening. The Arch was beautiful and it really stands as a monument to what Man can do when we put our minds to it.













We also explored the beautiful downtown of St. Louis. I don't have any pictures but I strongly encourage you to go to see it if you ever get the chance. I've added an album just of pictures I took of the Arch and the wedding as well as the riverfront of St. Louis. The Mississippi River has swelled over its banks and has taken over the riverfront of the city. Most of the city is still dry but there was a small area that was underground.
My mother and I also visited Soulard's Farmer's Market. It it was on Seventh Street/Avenue, I believe. It was a great big market with some amazing things and I loved it. There were so many things to see ranging from the standard food and jewelry shops to a pet store and an area that sold food and drinks (Yes, including Budweiser beer).
Budweiser beer was EVERYWHERE. We had hoped to visit the brewery and take a tour but did not have time. That was sad. But almost every restaurant we saw, except the Saint Louis Bread Company, had at least one neon sign advertising Budweiser and/or Bud Light. It was mildly amusing. One of m favorites was a restaurant that had a Bud/Bud Light sign for every professional sports team in St. Louis. It's interesting to see how they can incorporate the Cardinals' logo and the Blues' logo into a neon sign advertising Budweiser.

Now for the amusing anecdotes from the wedding/reception...
The bride has a niece who is about twenty-one months old. Clare, the niece, spent the entire wedding Mass announcing "ALL DONE!" at the end of every prayer. The Mass was at least an hour and a half long...so she said "ALL DONE" a lot. I guess it must mean "Amen" for her.

The night before wedding, my parents and I were heading out for dinner when we ran into the groom's Aunt Karen and her three children: Spencer (7 or 8), Kellen (5), and Tessie (3). (Tessie is NOT named after the famous song about the Boston Red Sox.) Kellen marched up to us while we were chatting with his mother and said, "Who are you?"
We introduced ourselves and asked him who he is. He didn't reply but his mother told us that his name was Kellen. And his little sister, who was running back and forth from the ice machine getting ice for the ice bucket, announced, "I'm Tessie!"

The next night, at the reception, I was dancing with the groom's younger sisters (and two of my good friends who might as well be my younger sisters) Charlotte (19) and Clare (15) when Clare went off to dance with her cousin Theresa. Charlotte and I decided we needed new dance partners so we went off to the steps to the main table where we found Tessie and two-year-old Maria; we asked them to dance and they agreed. I spent most of the rest of the night bouncing around the dance floor with a three-year-old on my hip. We also got good at dips and flips; I had to do all the hard work but she LOVED it and would shriek for more. I occasionally let her dance with other partners.
One of our best dances were with another small child. Tessie loves Maria, Mark's cousin on his mom's side of the family. She wanted to go say hello to Maria, who was with her mother, Lisa. We went over to talk to Maria and Lisa and then the little girls decided they wanted to dance together. In their world, dancing meant being held by Lisa and me while they held hands and we bounced them around to the beat of the music.
My favorite dance was with Tessie and my older brother, Greg. Greg and I had been meaning to dance at some point during the evening and he was partner-less at one point while Tessie and I were bouncing around. A slow song came on, so I asked him if he wanted to join us on the dance floor. He acquiesced and he and Tessie held hands while I held her and he had his other hand on my back in the typical ballroom dance position. It was cute but it was also fun.

I also got to dance with Alexander, another cousin of the groom. Alexander is nine years old and has more energy than the Energizer bunny. He also drank three cups of coffee during the course of the evening. He was bouncing all over the place and I couldn't keep up with him. He wore me out and by the end of the evening, I was exhausted. But I still danced with Charlotte, Clare, and Theresa as much as I could.

On the whole, I had a great trip to St. Louis. I didn't like getting up at 5:30 this morning; that was miserable. And I had two rough flights home. But I made it back to Grand Rapids. And now I have three more days left in this lovely city. Tomorrow, I have a class with a paper due and a quiz. Tuesday, I have two four-page papers due. And Wednesday I have a final exam. That afternoon I'm heading home to Ann Arbor. I'm so ready for this.