A Wedding In Wooster
On the same day in 2019 that I was interviewed for the after-school program at New Story (formally known as Haugland Learning Center), in another office someone else was being interviewed, let’s call her Savannah. Savannah was originally hired as a teacher support (the same job that I have in the present day). Basically, she ran around the school and made sure that all the kids and teachers had what they needed. I’m pretty sure I saw her leaving the school a couple of times, and she remembers seeing me at a hockey game that all staff attended, but other than that we had no real interaction.
When Covid hit, Savannah was promoted to teacher and she taught online until we returned to in-person for the summer school program before the 2021-2022 school year. It was at this point that Savannah and I finally met each other for the first time.
Savannah is incredibly empathetic. She’s literally always there when you need her! In fact, Savannah, along with our coworker Lucy, and her girlfriend (who also used to work with us) Clo, helped me through some personal stuff that was going on last year. She is also an amazing teacher. For the sake of student privacy, I can’t really give any examples but every student that works with her loves her.
Very early on in our friendship, I learned that Savannah was engaged. While the wedding was about a year away at that time, she had gotten engaged in 2020. Despite the pandemic interfering with the wedding, I assumed that she had at least solidified the guest list.
One day in March of this year, I was sitting in Savannah’s room after school. “Hey,” she asked, “would you like to come to my wedding?”
“Of course!” I said completely shocked. Soon after this Savannah would also invite Clo and Lucy and the three of us decided to carpool. Last Saturday, September 10th, I drove to Clo and Lucy’s apartment at 10 a.m. After they finished getting ready, we packed up my car and I drove to Wooster, Ohio, which is about an hour and a half away from Columbus.
The wedding was outside of a greenhouse and the reception was inside. The wedding party processed in and when it was just Savannah and her soon-to-be husband Liam standing in front of everyone, his dad who was officiating, started talking about their impressive 10-year-long relationship! When they got to their vows… I was very glad that I was wearing sunglasses because on the outside I could look completely composed, but I may or may not have cried a little bit.
The reception was really fun! Clo, Lucy, and I mingled with Savannah and Liam‘s friends and family, and we all decided that we should lightly harass the bride and groom later to host a group hang out. While it was an amazing night, it was a little weird for me. This was the first wedding that I’ve been to that I wasn’t in or wasn’t a family member's. I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy not having responsibilities, but every once in a while I would panic because I felt like I should be doing something other than partying. After I would have a little panic, I would feel a bit socially awkward and out of place for a second.
It’s going to sound really backward, but my socially awkward moments made me feel more secure. Savannah has known me for a year now and so she knows how weird I can get sometimes. So when I would feel out of place I understood that I was wrong since I knew that she knew that it could happen and she invited me anyway!
Congratulations Savannah and Liam! wishing you luck on your Greattastic Life together!
J. Mitchie Ulibarri
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