In Short, My Husband Rocks!

Originally this was a much longer post, but I think that was way more detail than anyone would be interested in so I will get to the important parts. 

Saturday was my first “double”—two ceremonies in one day, in two different locations, the first involving my PA system. It was going to be a lot of running around and coordinating.

Despite having a migraine the night before and waking up with a headache, Wookie was there. He was great, as usual at the first ceremony—setting up the PA, coordinating with the DJ use of the limited number of electrical outlets at the outdoor location, and snapping pictures, then packing up the PA while I hunted down the necessary parties to get the paperwork signed.

It was a very busy morning and his work should have been done when we arrived at the second ceremony. I wasn’t supplying the PA for that one. He should have been able to hang out, till I was done with nothing to do but snap a few pictures of the ceremony. Instead, when there was a problem with the DJ’s PA and no mic for me, it was Wookie to the rescue. In about 15 minutes he had the PA up and tested and mics for me and the two singers.

When my mic failed, I only had to speak a few lines without it. I just stuck my hand behind me and he was there, sneaking in with a new mic. It was all but seamless. AND he got pictures of the ceremony.

Finally, because the ceremony started very late, he packed up the PA in the dark while I, again, tended to the legalities—marriage license, etc.

There was a lot going on with that second wedding. People were late due to traffic, we were losing the light, tension was high. But thanks to Wookie, the couple was able to have a ceremony their guests could hear. I didn’t have to worry about anything, the moment I said there was a problem, he jumped in to fix it—leaving me to deal with other issues like discussing backup plans and making sure everyone was ready for their part in the ceremony.

He really saved the day, not just for me, but more importantly for my clients and their guests. I could not ask for a better partner. I’m the Celebrant, but Inclusive Ceremonies wouldn’t be what it is without my Wookie. 

The Aqua Wookie in his native environment. His amphibious nature makes the Aqua Wookie a superb SCUBA Instructor as well as sound engineer, roadie, assistant, sherpa, and photographer for weddings and other ceremonies.
I would not be doing the work I love if not for him.

Lesson of the Week--Knowing my Limits

I do plan on getting back to blogging about my San Francisco vacation. I have more memories and pictures to share about that amazing trip. But it's been a whirlwind since I got back and so I thought it a good idea to write about a lesson I learned this week — basically that sometimes, something's got to give.

There are two things I have learned from SCUBA diving and my first aid training (also related to diving) that I try to carry into every day life:

• A diver can cancel on a dive for any reason and it's fine.
• The first rule of rescue is that the rescuer take care of herself.

Both lessons came into play this week.

I came back from vacation to a series of deadlines at the day job, numerous wedding ceremonies to write/update/officiate, a social media course to update and teach again and EMT-B training. Believe it or not, the EMT-B training was to my recreational activity. It's not that I wasn't going to take it seriously--I take it very seriously and I was thrilled for a chance to expand on the skills I have acquired as an Emergency First Responder and EFR Instructor.

But the EMT-B course was also to be something I would do with my husband. We tend to spend all summer running around in opposite directions--he to his SCUBA students and me to my ceremonies. It's good to have some scheduled time where we're both engaged in something that gives us new things to talk about. EMT-B was going to be it for me. (For the Wookie, it's his first step to his goal of becoming a Hyperbaric EMT.)

I'll be the first to admit that I didn't know what the course would entail. I had the schedule. 2 nights a week from 6:45 to 10:00 PM. and some weekend days (either Saturday or Sunday) from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Magically the weekend dates fit into my schedule, as did all but one class and I could make that up by attending a later section. Perfect.

What I didn't anticipate working into my schedule were these.

Thank a Teacher Today

This weekend is first since last October when I haven't had a class to prep for or homework to grade. This was my second year of teaching for the Celebrant Foundation and Institute. I teach three courses for the Institute:

• Fundamentals
• Ceremonies for Families and Children
• Weddings and Other Ceremonies for Couples

This year was extra busy. I taught three sections of Fundamentals. Then, in the second half of the class year, I  earned my certificate in Funerals and Other Ceremonies for Healing while teaching a section each of Families and Weddings.  

I thought that was as busy as things could get. Then I was given the opportunity to create and teach a course I had proposed to the Institute, an introduction to social media for Life-Cycle Celebrants®.  Let me tell you, it was one of the most challenging things I've ever done.

The other courses I've taught came with full curricula, all of the class materials prepared and ready.

My course was three, one and half hour sessions and I created the course myself from scratch. I taught three topics, one on each night, in a webinar format. I answered questions, but there was no homework to grade. The amount of time I put in to each course in creating and prep-word was a minimum of 10 hours.

My point?

I've always wanted to teach. And I am thrilled that I get to teach subjects that I love. Growing up, I always pictured myself as a high-school English teacher and I have many friends today who are educators. But when I looked into becoming a teacher a few years ago (I went as far as taking the PRAXIS exam) I realized that I just couldn't afford to make the change.  The pay cut I'd have to take as a teacher would my already struggling family too deep in the red.

From what I see in the news and hear from my friends it's getting harder and harder to be a teacher.  Salary cuts, layoffs, and an education system that makes teachers spend more time training kids to pass standardized test than learn to think critically aren't helping. It boggles my mind that teachers are so under appreciated. When I was a kid I couldn't understand how it was that baseball players made more than teachers. Now that I have a practical understanding of the investment of time and dedication--OUTSIDE the classroom, it absolutely astounds me.

So this is to all my teacher friends--thank you.

And to everyone--vote for people and programs to support education, ask your kids' teachers what you can do to help. It doesn't even matter if you don't have kids. We all benefit when we educate the next generation.

Gifts from my first Celebrant students.   

Every teacher should be so honored.

Updating this post to add a video I stumbled upon today.

Taylor Mali: What teachers make | Video on TED.com

The Ceremony Project

I admit a certain bias when it comes to weddings. I think the ceremony is what makes it a wedding. The cake, flowers, etc. are icing on the cake. But it's been my experience that ceremonies often get the short end of the stick when it comes to wedding planning. (Twice I've been contacted about weddings where the couple had all the details planned and then realized they forgot to plan the ceremony.)

I've wanted to write about this for a while, but I wanted to take it beyond my anecdotal evidence. Till today, I wasn't sure how to do that.

Today, I was playing with StumbleUpon and I had an idea. Take a random sampling of wedding-related sites as revealed by StumbleUpon and see what attention, if any, they give to ceremonies.

I set the StumbleUpon filter to weddings and clicked Stumble! 30 times. Each time I saved the website for review later. At a glance I have a variety of sites, wedding blogs, photographer sites, boutiques, wedding planners and more. It will be interesting to see what I find.

The results will be revealed on my Inclusive Ceremonies blog.