The Wedding

Our time in Apia was filled with lots of fun and good memories, hanging by the pool, going out to tasty meals, hitting up the night-life, and best of all we had a very special occastion to celebrate, and I don’t mean Swearing in. A few weeks into training one of our married men, Chris, was playing rudgy in the ocean and lost his wedding ring. It was a terrible thing especially and the couple had to be separated all during training and we were all ready under so much stress, you can image how devastating it was at the time. It was just a couple of days later, when Rivka his wife was swimming in the ocean, probable still a little miffed that her hubby had lost his ring when hers went missing too. Again it was a hard blow. It may seem odd that loosing a ring would hit so hard but try to remember that we have very constants here and absolutely no control of our lives. It was a tough time for the Chris and Rivka as they were separated and going through a lot of stress finding out about there future site. But being the incredible people they are this didn’t last long. They decided they were going to go in to town and buy a new set of ring and re-exchange their vows. Of course us girls decided that this seemed like an opportunity for some fun, so before you know it we were planning a full on wedding and bachelorette party. So when Monday rolled around the stage was set and the party started. For the barchelorette we went to a taste Indian restaurant, then came back to the hotel for some fun and games. I wish I could tell you what when on in that room but…. I’m sworn to secrecy. Just know we had a total blast, got several noise complaints, drank a lot and did some serious bonding. Then at five o’clock the next day as the sun was setting of the gorgeous pool at Pacifica with the ocean and the mountains in the back, the ceremony began. Rivka wore a lovely white summer dress with a flower in her hair. Chris looked dashing in his whit shirt, black tie, and black Samoan (for lack of a better word) skirt. We all got dressed up gave out the roles of best man, maid of honor, priest, and even father of the bride to walk her down the aisle. We were a bit of a motley bunch with our best man being a girl, our priest topless with a Mohawk, and the father of the bride as two twenty-something boys giggling as the they approached. We had some great laughs but in the end the vows were beautiful and sincery. It was wonderful to see and as the groom later said, it was a testament to not only them but to us as a group that we could take something so sad and make it into something so beautiful. The night ending with; beer, pizza, cake, and every one jumping into the pool in our nice clothes. It was a great night and it made me realize how lucky I am to be here with these amazing people, and I know there will be many more nights like it.