Thursday, August 16, 2007

Faces

In the spirit of less anonymity, here are some images of myself and some of my loved ones, chosen almost solely on the basis of their convenience for posting:


My wife Amanda and me at our wedding in the spring of '93. It was a Las Vegas wedding - but not a spur-of-the-moment, let's-get-hitched deal. We were living there at the time, and it remains one of our favorite places.

It was a great wedding, because we were originally planning an extremely intimate ceremony, i.e., a sparsely-attended civil service. In fact, we were even kicking around the idea of getting married by an Elvis impersonator, just because hey, it's Vegas.

However, we notified my mother a couple of weeks beforehand, as a courtesy, and she contacted everyone and their dog. Despite our families being spread literally from Pacific to Atlantic, and the extremely short notice, it turned out that every one of our immediate relatives was able to come the following weekend !
We were further able to secure an LDS chapel and the ward Bishop for the ceremony, despite the time crunch.

My mother also ramrodded the entire planning phase, from helping to make the wedding dress to decorating and making refreshments.

Click for larger image

We then had a picnic reception at Calico Basin, (above), which is on the city-side of the much more well-known Red Rock Canyon, (below).


Click for much larger image

Although there was a week of stress for my intended, and especially for my mother, the wedding and reception both went well, and the entire shebang, including lodging, cost under
$ 3,000 in today's dollars. Over the years it's been mentioned several times at family gatherings that it was the best wedding from among those of my siblings, primarily because it was the least-planned and was very low-key.

So, we're both very, very grateful to my mother.


Here are my siblings and me circa '84. I'm on the far right:

Click for larger image

Rear, L - R: Siddhartha, Auralie, Aeowyn, Michael-Gerrard
Front, L - R: Nolayan, Zenas

20 Comments:

Blogger Bret said...

oroborous,
You look nothing like a snake!

August 16, 2007 5:31 AM  
Blogger erp said...

Hats off to mothers wherever they are! Your's was kind enough to provide you with a passel of good looking siblings. Good job mom.

To you and your lovely bride, many more years of wedded bliss.

August 16, 2007 6:38 AM  
Blogger Oroborous said...

Thank you, thank you.

...many more years of wedded bliss.

We have high hopes that it will so be.

August 16, 2007 8:04 AM  
Blogger erp said...

It'll happen if you work at it. Here's us 50 years later.

August 16, 2007 8:10 AM  
Blogger Ali said...

This is me.

August 16, 2007 8:18 AM  
Blogger erp said...

ali, What a handsome devil, but can you really be that young and that serious?

August 16, 2007 8:24 AM  
Blogger Oroborous said...

Ali:

For a comix affectionado, you look a lot more buttoned-down than I would have guessed.

August 16, 2007 8:55 AM  
Blogger Harry Eagar said...

Well, now we know whom to go to for fashion advice.

You were lucky, Oro, to have all your family together for the wedding. It is been a source of grief for my mother that she was not permitted to attend the weddings of her Mormon grandchildren.

August 16, 2007 10:51 AM  
Blogger David said...

My G-d, Harry. Religion is evil. (O -- Nice pics.)

August 16, 2007 2:40 PM  
Blogger monix said...

What a handsome bunch you are!

August 17, 2007 1:56 AM  
Blogger Hey Skipper said...

Since my appearance considerably disappointed Peter last June, I shall refrain from imposing that experience upon the rest of you.

August 17, 2007 9:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Disappointed? What a libel! I merely said I had always imagined you to be very tall. Otherwise, I thought you were cute as a button.

August 18, 2007 4:27 AM  
Blogger Ali said...

I'm guessing Skipper doesn't look anything like the cast of Top Gun then.

August 19, 2007 9:15 AM  
Blogger Harry Eagar said...

Ya know, I always assumed Orobourous was a nom d'Internet. But now I'm not so sure.

August 20, 2007 8:17 PM  
Blogger Oroborous said...

Harry:

???

Do you mean with regard to my parents' choice of names for their children ?

August 21, 2007 6:16 AM  
Blogger Harry Eagar said...

Yes.

August 21, 2007 9:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oro:

Harry thinks the world would be safer if you all has been named Tom, Billy and Betty-Sue. Which shows his age. Obviously he is out of touch and can't see America would be in much better shape if you has been named Sean, Cody and Kayley.

Although, I was wondering, why not Seth or Ira? Aren't the Mormons into the Old Testament?

August 21, 2007 3:02 PM  
Blogger Harry Eagar said...

Actually, I wrote without engaging the brain.

Obviously, as there is no Oroborous in the picture, that cannot be your name.

But O. sounds lit'ry, and so does Siddharta and from about the same period of popularity. The other names, like Auralie, are less specifically lit'ry but still sound lit'ry to me.

Despite what Peter says, when it comes to low-incidence names, your family and mine are not so different.

August 21, 2007 8:53 PM  
Blogger Oroborous said...

Although, I was wondering, why not Seth or Ira? Aren't the Mormons into the Old Testament?

More so than the average American Christian, but only slightly.

We might have ended up being Zophar, Ahinoam, Othniel, Uriah, Achsa, etc. if my parents had been Mormons, or even religious, when we were born, but my mother converted when I was a teen, and my father hasn't yet.

But O. sounds lit'ry, and so does Siddharta and from about the same period of popularity. The other names, like Auralie, are less specifically lit'ry but still sound lit'ry to me.

The inspiration was more "cultural diversity" than "literary", but it's true that many of the names were found in works of literature.

My middle name of Beorn is Norse, Siddhartha is Indian, Auralie is French/Latin, Aeowyn is Old English-inspired, Zenas is Greek, and Nolayan is a Korean name, albeit normally feminine.

August 22, 2007 6:24 PM  
Blogger Harry Eagar said...

My new grandson's middle name is Danger.

No kiddin'.

My elder daughter's name is Kachina, a whim of her mother's.

She seems to be cool with it, although she and a friend with an unusual name beginning with K did form a club called White Girls Who Have Names that Make People Think They are Black.

August 23, 2007 10:05 AM  

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