The Kinkenmeyers

As reported in the previous post, we were at the bride's parents' lovely home on Sunday afternoon for a delicious lunch and to watch the newlyweds open their gifts. Most of us had been up until way after midnight the night before and occasionally the tiredness would show, especially when one sat still for awhile, as evidenced by my daughter as she waited for her turn in the lunch line.

Here's a bridal doll, decked out in her finery, crocheted many years ago by the bride's grandmother (the dear lady who spotted the diamond in the dirt, as related in the previous post). This doll with her bright blue eyes watched over the gift table.
We guests lounged around in the pleasant living room; it was our family and the bride's parents, plus her out-of-town aunts and uncles. The bride is an only child.......quite an amazing story there.......her parents had been married nearly 24 years when she was born! I'm sure they had long before given up hope of ever conceiving a child. At any rate, her parents are the age of my parents, as are all the aunts and uncles, so Husband and I feel like youngsters when we're with these very delightful people!

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As I said, we were sitting around the big living room, watching the couple open gifts, visiting and laughing.........and one thing we were chuckling about was that Husband had fallen asleep in a recliner in the corner, his head way back and mouth wide open (fortunately, he was not snoring). The poor guy was completely exhausted from the weekend's wedding activities plus trying to keep up with farm chores at home.

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So anyhow, Husband was asleep......which is a factor in this next story: The gift opening was rolling along smoothly. Then a certain box was opened, revealing the gift inside to be a rather homely pink vase (I failed to get a photo of it....darn!); the bride quizzically read the name on the card out loud, as, "George, Mary, Kim & Ken Meyer. "Who is that?", she asked. We all just looked at each other and shrugged. The bride's mother then took the card, peering at the signature and saying, "No, its George, Mary & Kim Kenmeyer. Does anyone know any Kenmeyers?" Again, we all shook our heads. She handed the card to me and I took a look, then announced, "It appears to be from George & Mary Kinkenmeyer." Again.......the name rang no bell of recognition with anyone present. The unattractive vase was passed around the room. It appeared old and in need of a cleaning. One of the uncles piped up, "Its probably a gag gift." But, from whom? None of us had a clue.........none of us in the room who were awake, that is!

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Later, on the way home, I said to Husband, "Do you know anyone by the name of George & Mary Kinkenmeyer?" He thought for a few seconds and then burst into laughter. It WAS a gag gift........from Husband's brothers.......the vase having come from amongst the piles of useless whatnots they removed from their deceased dad's house last winter. Husband even knew that the culprits were going to use the name "Kinkenmeyer"; he said they had probably signed that name somewhere in the guestbook, too! My daughter laughed and said, "Yeah, wouldn't you know it, the only person in the room who could have solved the mystery was the guy who was SOUND ASLEEP!!" We were glad he was, though, for it made the story more amusing to relate later over the phone to Husband's brothers.......they just laughed and laughed. I guess it doesn't take much sometimes to prompt laughter around here. For some reason, I think I can accurately predict that the Kinkenmeyers will show up at family events for many years to come, under various aliases, and bearing odd gifts.......prompting laughter and great memories!

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This post will end with porch scenes from the bride's parents' home, a big, old, small-town house, complete with porches decked out with leftover wedding decorations, the bow arrangements having adorned the ends of the church pews at the ceremony on Saturday.

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Have a tremendous Tuesday! Wedding busy-ness spilled over from the weekend into Monday, plus my son's high school football team had their "Meet the Team" event last night, so there was no chance to rest yesterday. Maybe today.......I hope!!

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[Update: Just thought of this........if any of you readers have the last name of Kinkenmeyer, I want you to know I'm not trying to make fun of your name. Actually, its not my fault that name was used, remember........Husband's brothers thought it up!]

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