Hey little sister, what have you done?

My sister Julie got married last month. I hope she doesn't construe my waiting for six weeks to blog about it as an indication of my feelings about her and the importance of her big day. She is now Julie Chavez, the wife of Jaben Chavez. My new brother-in-law is a good guy. Our moms served together on the stake primary presidency long before Julie and Jaben met (as coworkers at the University of Phoenix). They dated for several years before they got married, and I'm glad he's now officially part of our family.

It was a day I'm sure Julie and Jaben will never forget, but it was memorable for me too. Some of the things that stick out in my mind:

--I won $100 in a radio contest, which allowed me to have one of the four boxes I left in New York shipped to me. My suit was in it, and after getting it dry-cleaned, it felt like the material was about 40% lighter than I remembered. I know that it's the same suit, but it doesn't feel like the same suit. Kind of weird.

--Wedding planning is very complex, at least for the bride and her family (i.e., my mom). I wouldn't describe Julie's wedding and associated events (reception, showers, etc.) as excessive or overly elaborated, but she was busy non-stop for two months getting ready for it. But (at least from my perspective) everything turned out well, so it was worth it.

--I was asked to be the usher for the wedding. Not AN usher, THE usher. Or, as I liked to say, just plain Usher. My idea of wearing jeans, a white blazer, and a baseball cap with a script "A" on it was unfortunately shut down. These are my confessions: I was a terrible usher. By the time I showed up a bunch of people were already there, coming in and out of the chapel. I didn't know who was an employee of the reception hall and who was a member of the groom's family. Someone asked me where the bathroom was and I didn't know. I stationed myself at the only main entrance to the chapel, but there was an opening in the back where the chapel and reception area connect, and most people walked through that. I didn't really do anything positive in my usher role, but fortunately it didn't have any negative impact on the ceremony.

--The ceremony, performed by the bishop of my ward, was cheerful, tender and classy, so obviously someone like me would have nothing extra to say about it.

--My sister has a lot of friends! There were way more people at the reception than I figured there would be. And they hooked the new couple up with lots and lots of presents. Almost makes me want to get married too.

--Speaking of which...there are six kids in my family. My brother Adam is the 2nd; he got married five years ago. Julie is 4th oldest. The rest of us are single. Perhaps sensing that us odd-numbered kids are, well, odd, it was the youngest, my sister Chelsea, who had the most people ask her when she was getting married. I think she ended up with the bouquet too, so things are looking up for her. My brother Derek and I were as clumsy in going for the garter as we are in our attempts at dating.

--The food at the reception was tremendous. Five or six kinds of cheesecake, mini eclairs, brownies, and more...and since I have an in with the bride, we got to take home a lot of the leftovers.

--My brother recorded the ceremony, but turned the camcorder over to me for the reception. It was so much fun. I hadn't used a video camera in about three years, probably. I miss looking for and framing good shots, capturing funny moments on tape, and creating my own funny moments with my commentary. Maybe I'll get a camera for Christmas. I forgot to put it on my list, but Santa knows what we need before we even ask him. Wait, I might be thinking of someone else.

--Last but not least...there's the photographer, Margo. Even before the wedding, my sister had told me that the photog was cute and that I should ask her out. At the wedding and reception, I heard the same thing, independently, from my brother, my aunt, and a few other people. It was kind of weird. She was very attractive (still is, I suppose)--she's even a redhead, which is often a major plus for me--and she's clearly talented (these pictures were taken by her), but I didn't do it, for several reasons: 1) She was busy, and I didn't want to distract her from her job. 2) I've never been the kind of guy to approach women I don't know and ask them out. Probably one of the reasons I'm still highly unmarried, because it can be hard to date your friends. 3) The fact that so many people urged me to do it resulted in natural resistance on my part. 4) Finally, the lukewarm-at-best reaction I got on the two attempts I made to interact with her made me reluctant to try anything further.

Most of the staged picture taking took place in the hour or so between the end of the ceremony and beginning of the reception. Several young nieces and nephews were part of the wedding party, and at one point Margo called out, "ok, I need all of the cute kids up here for this picture." I dutifully walked to the stage, but rather than laugh at my joke she said that she had asked for the cute kids. Later on, I was interviewing people for the reception video. I walked over to the couch where she was talking with my Aunt Anna, and asked if they had anything to say to the bride and groom. She said no thanks and walked away. So that was that.

My aunt had actually had a lengthy conversation with her, and while trying to get me to ask her out later on told me what she had learned about her, including the fact that she also worked for JetBlue as a reservations agent--a job I had applied for a few weeks earlier. Since the reception, I have attended an information session/interview with JetBlue, where Margo and I saw each other again and again did not speak to each other. I've been offered the job, and I accepted, with a training class starting late February.

So there's an off-off-off-off-off chance that this part of the story isn't over, but the most important aspect of this new job is that, after training, I would get to work from home. This will require a high-speed Internet connection, so I have a few weeks to convince my parents to let me do it (at which time I would probably switch to part-time at the post office). If this happens, it will be huge for me, meaning, among other things, much more regular blogging. So keep your fingers crossed. Until I can find someone who suits me as well as my sister and her husband suit each other, the The Internet is the closest thing I have to a significant other, and this separation has been painful.

Congratulations, Julie and Jaben! Thanks for providing content for my blog. You two are great, and you're great together.