The Party

After arriving at the farm/cheese factory and inspecting our "limousine" for damage, we aimed ourselves into the hothouse.  This hothouse was phenomenal.  It nursed all kinds of tropical plants that one would definitely not expect to see in Norway.  It looked so beautiful with the lights and decorations, and we had the whole place to ourselves and the staff  for the wedding, as it was after hours for the shop. 
 
The feast laid out before us amazed us. Wine flowed freely, as did champagne, and exotic cheese and crackers  as appetizers.  We mingled, made introductions, and I took Sarah to the restroom to change into her ivory dress, since she wore casual clothes for the coach ride.  Her shoes matched her dress exactly.  When we returned to the party, I was unabashedly proud of the comments I heard as we passed (I have to throw in a little Motherly Pride here).  She did look rather pretty and Victorian.  The Groom, a perfect gentleman, offered to pose for a photo with her, and she was nearly giddy at being in the picture with him.
 
Oh--back to the food--If I remember correctly, there were several types of salads, a gorgeous salmon, roast beast, meats and cheeses for sandwiches, venison stew, pate, and oh, the desserts!  There were THREE cakes, all delicious. A friend of the bride's had decorated her cake in the likeness of a motorbike.  That was cool.
 
Time to sit down and get ready to eat--a lot!  Some speeches were made, the bride made a beautiful happy speech at the beginning, talking about her "Husband"--she did that all that day, the day before and throughout the party: "Have you met My Husband?" with strong emphasis on the word "husband."  It was adorable and endearing. 
 
While we ate, the other speeches came.  One speech in particular I thoroughly enjoyed: the one given by the Bride's "diminutive friend" who had graciously translated her speech into English so that I would understand it. I felt so grateful for that!  The other speeches, while in Norwegian, were better with each toast we made, and there were many! A group of women in Russian caps got up, passed around a song written in Norwegian, and sang to the Bride and Groom a song they had written to the Russian Anthem (?).  Then The Groom's father stood up and gave a speech which, by the look in his eyes, had to be so touching and filled with love.
 
After all the eating, it was time for dance music.  We had looked forward, the 3 adults, to seeing Kidlet and BD1 dance together, and the Groom had promised a dance with her, too.  Poor thing, she fell asleep at the dinner table.  The diminutive one found a couch to make her more comfortable, and BD1 slept for the rest of the evening's festivities.  I sat with her for awhile to make sure she didn't wake up, then walked around, spoke with several of the couple's friends and family, then returned back to check on Sarah.
 
These friends are terrific!  I felt so welcome in a sea of strangers! What beautiful friends! What a great support system my good friend the Nordic Goddess has and what great comfort that gives me.  I missed my own husband, and asked the staff if there was a way I could use a phone.  They gave their approval, but no one seemed to know the number to dial to access the United States.  So, the Bride happened to see me asking about it, and brought me to a very sweet partier, who also happened to be the "official" photographer, and who  happened to have her cell phone with international access with her.  She dialed the access number and very generously handed me the phone.  I got to talk with my Dear One for 15 minutes or so, describing Norway, the wedding, the guests, the farm, and everything I could think of, and told him BD1 fell asleep.  I missed him so very much at that point.  He said he was "finally" missing me, too.  harrumph. It took 3 days?? Well at least he did finally miss me.
 
Random observations...I could not for my life pronounce the names I heard, nor could I remember any of them since they were so "foreign" sounding to my ears (no duh).  I tried many times to pronounce and remember the Engineer's name, but gave in to just calling him Best Man or Engineer.  His presence was a delight--he even attempted to teach me how to dance in my cross trainers.  By the end of the evening, many women mentioned to me that they envied my shoes. That made me giggle.
 
Oh, and the most ingenious idea came from Kidlet. He wanted a new video game, and so, charged everyone 20 Kroner (I think that's a little less than $4 US) to use the toilets.  Clever little guy.  If you hadn't brought any money with you to the toilet, the look on his face was worth every penny and step to go back to your purse to get the money so he wouldn't look oh! so sad!
 
We left the party, mostly drunk and happy and somewhat tired, on the motorcoach.  There were 3-5 different traffic directors making sure the coach didn't go into a ditch or get scraped by the trees again.  It looked from the inside of the bus to be an insurmountable job.  Fences had to be moved; men stomped on the ground to be sure it was stable enough to support the weight of our bus (which seemed kind of not a reliable test, since the men barely weighed 180 lbs, and the bus weighed, what, a ton?); men placed their bodies in specific spots to make sure the bus didn't go there--it looked so dangerous.  After the driver and associates made the two sharp turns down the unpaved farm road, we were on our way back to downtown Oslo, to catch a taxi back to the house.  The Engineer and his beautiful counterpart, Ms. Radiologist, accompanied us to the taxi queue, and Mr. Engineer actually got us a van-sized taxi for us to take in front of all the other people in the queue.  I'm not sure how he did that, as everything was said in Norwegian, and no one in the line seemed to mind, but I was sure a grateful rider, and evidently snored on the way home, way in the back seat of the van where I curled up and fell asleep.
 
The taxi got us home, and by this time it was around 5:00 am or so.  The children went back to bed and snoozed; the 3 adults sat on the famous verandah, drank champagne, shared stories, and suddenly felt very tired.  What a great weekend it was, and it was only Sunday morning by now!  I slept so very well, and was unable to rise until after noon on Sunday.  At that time I learned that the Bride was ill, and needed to get to the Emergency Room. 
 
If you want to read the rest of this story, please see the entry dated Sunday, June 20, 2004, and titled "The Day After."