Day 23 - The Blessing Of Hiroko-san's Wedding
   
 
The day was also my beloved Mother's birthday...
 
My invitation to the wedding. Hiroko was actually married on December 22 in Kyoto, Japan. The ceremony today was to bless the wedding in front of American friends and family...
 
The ceremony... in the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, in Salisbury...
 
       
 
   
 
Eric Childers is a lucky man...
 
Hiroko and her mother...
 
The reception... with a table of memories... including photographs of the ceremony in Kyoto...
 
       
 
     
 
Sushi preparation...
 
Various reception shots...
       
 
       
 
The cake... Hiroko put a plateful in Eric's face!
 
         
 
My moment with the beautiful bride...
 
I cherish the day I met Hiroko and I wish her and Eric-san the best of everything!
 
Click here for pictures from the day I met Hiroko-san...
 
The wedding being just down the way from Catawba College, I stopped by to walk across the old campus. A lot of memories here from my first 2 years of college. Many years later I met Hiroko-san here...
 
         
 
         
 
Through old Salisbury...
 
Then it was back down I-85 to Charlotte. As the sun was sinking low I stopped at UNC-Charlotte, my alma mater, for a walk across the campus...

2nd shot: The Belk Tower at the middle of the UNC-Charlotte campus. After finally finishing the the last peice of work on my bachelor's degree, in December of 1988, I stood at this tower and savored the moment. I took a curvy path to that degree, and with several starts and stops, it took far longer than it should have. For a long time I would walk by that tower and think about how one day, when all the work was finished, I would step up on the base and put my hands to the post and say - "Done!"
 
The end of my North Carolina Christmas vacation draws nigh, for tomorrow I will fly back to Seattle...