Brendan announced in July that he and his fiance, Roly Contreras, are getting married in August. There's a back story, so let me fill you in.
Brendan was introduced to Roly by one of his co-workers at Safeway. Roly works in the dot com division of Safeway. Which is outsourced. To the Phillipines. This means Roly lives and works in the Phillipines. They meet via Skype, find they have a lot to talk about and are merrily Skyping at least once a week. Brendan decides he needs to meet Roly in person so he takes a vacation to the Phillipines and meets her and her family. He's smitten.
He came home with a bad bug from the Phillipines and was sick for weeks and I'm pretty sure it wasn't a love bug.
My sister, Lynne, and I meet Roly on Skype and we think she's adorable. (Lynne happened to be visiting me in OR when Brendan proposed a conference call on Skype)
Months later, Brendan returns to the Phillipines and they tour all over Asia (some great photos for scrapbooking!) and Brendan proposes. She accepts. Happiness all around!
Roly comes to the US to visit and meet his family (poor girl, she'll never be the same). Originally, she was going to be here 5 wks but B couldn't stand the thought of her leaving so soon and since her tourist visa is good for 6 months, they decide to extend her visit. HAH Considering she was going to go back to the Phillipines at the end of June and they told me in July they were getting married, you can see not much water passed under THAT bridge.
They consulted an immigration attorney and she recommended they get married in order to extend her stay and start the process for immigration. They planned to do a simple court ceremony just to make it legal, having me and Dorothy (the lady that introduced them) as witnesses and then plan a church wedding for next year for friends and family to attend. They told me they were planning August 21 and would provide details later. They (meaning B) wanted this to be quiet; no fuss, no bother. I promised to not mention it to anyone.
Now, they come over almost every Sunday for dinner and a rousing game of crokinole (I know that makes some of you jealous!). So one Sunday B says their lawyer told them they had to wait until September for the marriage. Ok, I'm retired, I'm flexible. I can do this.
The next Sunday they tell me that they don't have to wait after all, and the lawyer said the sooner the better, so they're back on for August. It is here that our stories diverge. Cal and I remember it as "we'll let you know what day it will be". Brendan remembers it as "this is the day it will be". He claims since Cal and I are old, his version is correct. I beg to differ. I didn't write anything on my calendar so I'm pretty darned sure I was waiting for a date.
Ok. Fast forward to Monday, August 27. Keep in mind that Brendan and Roly were at my house the night before for dinner and crokinole. On Sunday night I got IM's from Stacey & Eric both (#1 son and DIL). For both of them to ping me it had to be somewhat important. It was after 11:00 when I responded so we didn't really connect until Monday. Eric said he didn't know if B was being a smart aleck or what, but when he asked B to join a fantasy football game B responded "I can't on Tuesday. I'm getting married". I had hoped Brendan would have mentioned it to his brother before now (I'd promised not to say anything so I hadn't). *sigh* MEN
Anyway, I'm frantically trying to get ahold of Brendan or Roly because I had a hair appointment on Tuesday and had Eric not said something, I might not have been home! Don't think I wouldn't have been p.o.'d to miss out on the marriage ceremony!
All's well that ends well. I rescheduled my hair appointment, and as you can see by the photos, we successfully got them hitched and she's now permanently a part of our family.
Just to make sure it stays permanent, they'll be doing it again next year in the US and then again in the Phillipines for a traditional Filipino wedding.
We are blessed to have Roly as a part of our family and I can't wait to see the babies they make, because they are bound to be adorable, right?
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