We must be ready and waiting when the bride comes

Friday, 8/31/18

My time in a Korean country parish introduced me to the marriage customs similar
to those in the Bible story. We had one to five day good-bye celebrations for the girl in
her village where the partying lasted until the food and drink ran out.

Meanwhile the unmarried girls in the bride's future home went out on the road to meet
her and the groom at their uncertain time of arrival.

In my first three years over there, I possessed  an Army jeep that came in handy for those
trips to the the groom's village.

Some of my weirdest memories come from those trips. Once a dozed pheasants  landed on
road ahead of us, and the bride and groom in their fancy dress went run after them. One time our narrow road was blocked by a deaf-mute bound into a human sled.  We loved him into our
trailer alone with the girl's belongings. I brought him to the police in the next town, but
they wouldn't take him, so I left the human sled scooting down the snowy road.