Kids growing up

Last year we went to a friend's wedding in San Antonio, Texas. She use to babysit our boys. Mary use to spend weekends at our house. She was the daughter my wife always wanted. When I started coaching soccer, she played on the first team I coached. We did pretty bad the first year, but she was a very good player. She went on to play high school soccer in a mixed coed team which played against all boys teams.
Her wedding (to Patricio) was in a very big church. Very beautiful church where we weren't allowed to take pictures from the sanctuary. I was allowed to climb up to the balcony and take pictures from there. This is my favorite photo from the church ceremony. I like the way the whole wedding party is included, the red carpet and the happy expressions on the bride and groom.
They had hired a photographer to take pictures, so I worked around him. I like taking photos from the angles most people won't normally see. That means putting the camera on the ground or holding it over my head or shooting through an opening in the flower arrangements. I also prefer not using a flash. That was a problem in this church since there was very little natural light coming in. Most churches have stained glass that allows enough sunlight to shine onto the alter but this one had blue stained glass which allowed very little light through. She was a beautiful bride.
When we still lived in San Antonio Mary was willing to help me with my photographic experimentation. This picture I took using my old Pentex 35 mm camera. I used two flashes to get the transparent hand effect. My wife loved having her over. My wife always wanted a daughter but we ended up with two boys. I was extremely happy to have boys, so Mary was very special to my wife.
Mary had two brothers and two sisters. Her mom could tell a story about her kids and make it hilarious. There were stories about when Marie's hair caught on fire, when the truck hit Gloria with the side view mirror, when David rode his big wheel off the family car's roof, about the time John cut his tongue, and about the hundreds of jokes they played on Christina. Their father was an EMS technician so he did most of the stitching of cuts, bandaging of scrapes, and assorted first aid. We would go visit and my wife would laugh so much at the stories they would tell that she would get an asthma attack every time we went there. Ok, some of it was from Wilma's smoking. Wilma was like a sister to my wife. They worked at the same place for about five years. When Mary got married, I think my wife was as excited as Wilma was. At the wedding I did what I have always like doing, take pictures. It was a beautiful wedding and a great reception. The rehearsal dinner, which we were also invited to, since we are family (almost) was most excellent. One of this days I will put all the pictures of Mary on a disc and send it to her. I will include the 100+ I took at her wedding. She was a beautiful little girl, she is a beautiful woman and my wife and Wilma are lucky to have her as a daughter. The years went by so fast....

Oh yeah, she use to dress up our youngest son in her Cabbage Patch Doll's clothing. Apparently it had no lasting impact on him since he is in the Marine Corps now.