Convalidation Saga Part X - IT'S DONE!!!!!!

The ceremony went great. About 5 of the 8 guests I was hoping would show up showed up. But the weather was pretty gross, so it didn't surprise me that a few didn't come. I found out today that two people who said they would make it couldn't make it because the wife had unplanned toenail surgery on Thursday night, so she wasn't quite able to walk around yet. I've had that surgery done, which is when I started wearing Birkenstocks.

We were scheduled to get convalidated after the 7:00p mass at the Cathedral. The ceremony was going to be a convalidation for two couples - my husband and myself, and one of my classmates and his wife. My husband and I showed up in matching outfits, but they were just churchwear, nothing fancy. We knew that we'd have a couple of guests. We ended up having my sponsor Maria, and Lucy and Henry (friends of Maria and sponsors of others in my class), MA (the Deacon's wife), and Nancy and Greg (Nancy is a sponsor of one of the people in my class) as our guests. It was a nice little crowd, and I was really happy to see everyone there.

The other couple had twice as many people at this convalidation as we did at our whole wedding! The wife and their daughter wore matching white gowns, and the father and son wore matching maroon shirts and dark grey slacks. It was very cute! They are a nice couple.

I felt bad, I didn't want to steal their thunder or anything. But they said they didn't mind. Both of them told me that they thought it was going to be a small five-minute thing, and that only a couple of people would show up. But then the family got involved, and it got all complicated and big. But they were happy about it, and they didn't mind us being there.

Before the ceremony started, MA ran and found some pretty roses for me to carry for a bouquet, and wrapped them in some pink ribbon. I thought that was really kind of her to do that.

The ceremony started with a prayer from the deacon, and then there were two readings and a Gospel Reading with a small homily. It was a very nice homily. Then we walked up to the front and said the typical types of things you'd expect at a Catholic wedding - promise to stay together, raise kids Catholic, etc. with "I Do" responses. Deacon L mixed up our names - twice. It was really amusing. He said, "Paul, do you take Cynthia ..." I turned to Paul and nodded "No!!!" We all giggled a little. Our rings were blessed and we exchanged them.

The ceremony was very nice, kind of a Wedding Mass Lite. Dan got a little teared up during the I Do parts, because he's sweet like that. I was just happy that I actually got Convalidated! It was a very nice ceremony.

Afterwards, Nancy and Greg, who live downtown, invited us over to their loft for a glass of wine and then took us out for KILLER Mexican food. So it was all good.

I really enjoyed dinner because it gave me a chance to talk to Nancy more about kind of typical things that Catholics do, like pray before meals and other things.

So ... I'm convalidated! I've had my first Catholic sacrament! It was worth all the struggle. And I'm able to wear my new wedding band, which I really like. Dan thought it was kind of cool that since our rings were blessed, he is now wearing a "sacramental."