And Now For Something Completely Different

First and foremost, I am a husband and a father. Nothing is more important to me than the health, happiness, and welfare of my family.

Humor also plays a big role in my life even though not enough of that aspect of my life has appeared recently on this blog.

All of that changes with this post. It also demonstrates that many of us aren't always the people we think other are. Who knew?

Rainbow Shannon DeAngelis married Daniel William Wells on August 28, 2010.

They wed during a 1940's theme inspired ceremony and reception that began with the music from a live swing band.

The wedding and reception took place in one of the hangars of the Planes of Fame Museum at Chino Airport, in California.

The photo above is of Rainbow and Daniel Wells in their dancing attire, during the reception.

As a social activity and for pure enjoyment, they discovered the world of swing dance and have been going for instruction and dancing at occasions for some time.

Terri and I attended Camp Hollywood to help learn how to dance and Rainbow and Dan were in the intermediate classes there while we (I) tried to learn at the beginners' level. (Very beginners).

The reception had lots of candies and other treats that were popular during the 1940's and in a future post, I will post their Life Magazine program that blew everyone, including the band leader who has seen it all, completely away.

As a matter of fact, that is me between the bride and groom, performing the wedding ceremony.

Very few people know that I am an ordained minister, authorized to perform ministerial responsibilities and privileges all over the U.S. and in foreign countries, too.

On days I do my 'Reverend Thing' as I call it, I am really, really the Reverend Doctor Mark Richard Wells. I also hold a Doctor of Divinity.

I very rarely use my credentials as a minister and I don't like being Doctor anything except during the time I taught CPR for the Red Cross. Many years ago I was called "Markus Wellsby, M.D." because I would take the Ambu Andys and Ambu Annies that sprung leaks and find and fix the leaks by using my above ground pool.

The "M.D." back then stood for 'mannequin doctor'.


O.K.! Now to the awkward, funny, awkward, unbelievable part of the whole thing.

The title of this photo is Daniel Dancing With His Mom, Lori, Daniel Dancing With His Mom, Terri.

The first joke that I thought up was: How does one tell who the mother of the groom is?

It's quite simple. She is wearing a black dress with red roses on it.

It seems Lori and Terri are wonderful at picking dresses and even better at picking a husband.

Our oldest son David quickly came up with, "It was TOTALLY planned!"

We don't think Lori was all that into the humor Terri and the rest of us found during the evening.

The one major goal of the evening was catching my wife (wives) close enough together to get them in the same shot.

Terri was able to stand a bit behind Lori when Daniel was talking to Lori, so once we all saw that, we turned off our flashes and clicked away.

My brother-in-law Phil was operating the video camera and he found a way to turn the camera towards the view without Lori noticing, we hope.

If you have facebook and know which Mark Wells I am, there are more photos you can see.

Actually it was a bit uncomfortable for me and I found some relief in the humor that was being projected. I think had both of my wives not found the situation at least a bit humorous, then the whole evening would have been problematic.

Lori and I married in 1976. David was born in 1978 and Daniel came along in 1979.

Lori divorced me in 1991 and I married Terri on July 4, 1992.

Rainbow talked to each of her future mothers-in-law and suggest a vintage-style clothing shop on Magnolia in Burbank.

What NONE of us suspected or could have dreamed about that was the possibility that both moms would select the same dress.

Well, if you think about it, it might not really be that far fetched, perhaps.

They both like to look good and they both selected for themselves an excellent choice for their husband (at least for some time in Lori's case).

None of us witnessed the first glances between the two of them when they realized they were wearing the same dress. Terri says both sets of jaws dropped.

Terri told Lori that Lori looked better in the dress than she (Terri) did. Being the husband of both women, I kept my mouth shut on that bit.

Terri had to wear a covering under her dress and Lori altered the top of her dress a bit. Lori also had a black shawl, but that made little difference.

The ceremony took about the seven minutes the kids, who wrote the ceremony wanted it to take. It was happy and nobody was nervous and smiles and laughter were heard quite apart from the dress fiasco.

The reception was also a huge hit with two historic WWII fighters in the hangar, the swing band playing, the good food and company, and the atmosphere of being in a not-too-hot hangar, in August, in Chino, California.

I reserved five rooms at the nearby Extended Stay America facility and I WON"T do that again.

The only 'extended stay' any of us could think about was the extended stay-away from the mattresses.

Had I remembered how slab-like mattresses lesser priced hotel rooms have I would have popped for pricier and, at least, comfortable bedding.

At Extended Stay, you hips don't sink into the mattress, the mattress sinks into your hips.

The next time I consider staying at an Extended Stay facility, I will train my body by sleeping on the ground along Rock Creek in the eastern Sierras where the ground is much softer than those beds.

All in all, it was a magical event and the happy couple will wing away to several of the Hawai'ian Islands after I drive them to LAX at 6:00 AM on what is now, today.

We enjoyed our break from issues here on the east side of R.P.V. even if it was for only a day or two.

Thanks for reading.