Lawrence got married!

So, in my usual habit, I am behind and will spend this post telling you about what happened the last two weeks. I was back in the US for about a week and a half for my younger brother’s wedding. That’s right, on Friday, May 24, my brother Lawrence was married for time and all eternity to his wonderful fiancée (now wife) Erika in the Columbus Ohio Temple. Congratulations to you both!

If you don’t know what a temple is or how marriages work in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, never fear. We can quickly remedy this. Simply make a comment on this post, and I will happily send you a pair of young men or women to explain all about it. They do house calls and can access you almost anywhere in the world for free. Talk about service!

It was great to see my family and some close friends. In addition to my parents, all seven children were there (most importantly Lawrence). (1) Emma came from Abu Dhabi with oldest daughter Evelyn. (2) Laurel came from Boston where her forced poverty will soon end (see the congratulatory footnote at the end; sorry, you can’t steal the Lawrence/Erika wedding post limelight). (3) Careen came from St. Louis with husband Mark and son Dillon (winner of the largest nuclear family to attend amongst the siblings). (4) I was there. (5) Lawrence brought Erika (actually probably the other way around) from Provo, Utah where they are both at BYU. (6) Meara and (7) Lucien get lumped together because they’re still at home in 9^th and 8^th grades, respectively (sorry, you only get your own identity once you graduate and move out; until then, you’re part of the Barrett family; don’t worry, soon you’ll move on to start your own lonely family of one…like me).

Grandfather Barrett (Dad’s dad), Uncle Doug (Dad’s brother), and Aunt Cindi (Mom’s sister) also made the trek from Medford, Oregon; Reno, Nevada area; and Atlanta, Georgia; respectively. Interestingly enough (or depressingly enough if you’re Granddad), Granddad had to take the same number of flights (three) to get to Columbus from Medford, Oregon as I had to take from Addis (some of my flights might have been slightly longer). In addition, our very good family friend Andy Short drove in from upstate New York.

It was also nice to talk to other close friends via phone (even though this is possible from Ethiopia, it’s a lot easier without a huge time change), and I apologize that I wasn’t better about calling everyone while in the country.

The week leading up to the marriage had several activities. Wednesday night was the open house or early reception or some kind of celebration for the people who live in Columbus at my parents’ house. Following that, it was still early enough for me to head over to the Church building for Wednesday night volleyball (not something I get to play in Addis). By the way, if you want to see shocked / confused expressions on people’s faces, move to Africa and then just show up at things with no warning when you come back to visit.

Thursday was an expedition to COSI (very nice and turns out pretty expensive children’s science museum) and the bachelor party (details redacted except to say nice job to best man Phil)…nope, sorry, can’t let it go (WARNING: What follows is the type of thing that Charles will retype 4-5 times before deciding it’s appropriate; at which point, it will probably still be offensive)…who ditches out on a bachelor party four hours in because they need to go back and spend time with their wives. I’m all for marriage and children being your most important priority besides God, but we’re talking about one night before your friend’s wedding. Seriously? Anyway, you know who you are (and you don’t read this blog, so we can move on). Feel free to mail me any complaints at…oh, wait…they don’t deliver mail in Addis :)

Friday was the big day. It involved some pictures followed by the sealing in the temple followed by a couple more pictures. Overall, I have to give my thanks to the couple for making the pictures part of the wedding way, way, way, way, way less painful than at Emma’s wedding and at Careen’s wedding (I was going to go with six ways but thought that might be offensive…five’s totally okay, though, right?). Anyway, once the wedding was over, the bride and groom vamoosed, so I headed to a reception for a couple friends who were married earlier that day in the temple. Congratulations Tim and Alyssa!

Saturday was the ring ceremony and reception at this nice little park down in Cincinnati. Major props to my new sister-in-law (also my favorite…okay my only…but still my favorite) for the outrageous amount of work that she poured into this wedding. It was very nicely done and the vast majority of the work was done by Erika (Lawrence, good job showing up).

Anyway, I’m sure much nicer and more plentiful pictures are pending from Lawrence and Erika. In the meantime, I took a few below.

The before and after pictures. Look at the change! It's just like a commercial before/after picture set; make them look depressed in the first picture and happy in the second picture with lighting changes! Brilliant!

All the Barrett men who gathered for the occasion (that's right, I'm claiming Dillon as a Barrett). I put in the first picture because my eyes are closed in the second. I put in the second picture because looking at Dillon in the first followed by the second is hilarious. From left to right, Granddad, who's that...hmmm...oh right...the groom, Uncle Doug, Dad, Dillon, Charles, Lucien.

Here's Careen, Mark, and Dillon at the Wednesday night reception. Careen looks happy, Mark looks amused, Dillon looks...I don't know what that is ;)

This was supposed to be a picture of Mom, Dad, and Evelyn. Laurel saw the first picture taken and responded like a champ as you can see in the subsequent pictures (seriously, I was only going to share one of these pictures before I looked at them all and laughed out loud). Also a shout out to Cindi and Emma who are in the background for some of the pictures.

And then there were two...

Congratulatory footnote: Wanted to end with congratulations to Laurel for finishing all her residency shifts. Graduation is later this month and then the hours go way down and the pay goes way up. If it wasn’t for the eight post undergrad years it took her to get here, I might be more jealous.