November 29, 1969… 10:30 PM

Before our wedding reception could officially end, 3 more things had to happen: I needed to throw my bouquet, Nate needed to toss the garter, and my bridesmaids and I needed to build a human pyramid.

We didn’t really need to build a pyramid, but we wanted to. From the time I was about 7 years old, I loved gymnastics – round-offs, handstands, flips, backbends, all of it. When friends came over, we’d spend significant time perfecting our routines.

In high school I took classes, including trampoline, which is just gymnastics with a bounce. Even in college I was a member of a gymnastics group that occasionally performed – not competitively but just for fun.

Somewhere in high school we began making pyramids, not the skillful cheerleader type but the old fashioned kind. That’s when someone said, “Wouldn’t it be crazy if we made a pyramid at a wedding? The bridesmaids with the bride on top?” And that’s all it took.

I promised that even if nobody else did it at their weddings, I would at mine – if I ever got married. And so, now that I was a bride, I needed to follow through with a pyramid. The photographer raised his eyebrows but obediently set up his equipment in the Moody Church lobby.

I can’t imagine Nate’s thoughts as he (and the other men) watched us. Surely he wondered what his future would be like with this crazy wife.

Although one of the bridesmaids had already departed, a server jumped into her slot, and we went for it – a happy pyramid full of hysterical laughter. The bouquet and garter weren’t nearly as exciting.

Once we had straightened ourselves out, it was time to go. Our Champaign friends, Cathy and John, already had their engine idling in front of the church, ready for us to jump in and zoom away.

So we raced out the door through a barrage of rice, heading for the car. But the photographer’s insistence on a couple of pictures as we climbed in gave the wedding party just enough time to retrieve their own vehicles…  and line up right behind ours.

“Take me away with you.” (Song of Solomon 1:4)