Over the Coffee Cup

While TLC was not there to film the story of our family’s recent wedding…they should have. The bride was gorgeous and radiant, the groom handsome and nervous, and the backdrop was the sophisticated and artsy city of Teresina, Piaui, Brazil. The ceremony marked the marriage of our son Ben to Tiatana Barbosa Nunez of Teresina. Ben and Tiatana met in 2002 when Ben attended the language immersion program at the University of Teresina. Tiatana has a Bachelor’s degree in English was a tutor in that program.

The priest who married the young couple is Father Brendan Cavanaugh, Cs.S.R, an Irish Redemptorist who is a missionary in Teresina. He has been in Brazil for several years, but in Teresina only six months. “I’m still trying to get used to the heat,” he laughed in his thick Irish brogue. Ben and Tia selected Father Cavanaugh’s parish, St. Joseph the Worker, for their wedding, since they had attended the weekly Tuesday novenas to Our Lady of Perpetual Help held there. The church is in a working class (read poor) section of Teresina and would be a nice target of any spare donations lying around. (I’ll be happy to supply the address!)

The church was decorated with at least a dozen large vases filled with flowers lining the aisle and around the altar, and a red carpet stretched the whole way from front to back. I escorted Ben down the aisle (a Brazilian tradition that I thought was lovely); Don was one of the groomsmen and our son Dan was best man for his brother. (Our daughter Maureen also accompanied us to Brazil and was a huge hit with everyone she met. She took it as her responsibility to teach everyone she met at least one English word or phrase, and she did it with such grace and humor they all loved her!) Throughout the late afternoon ceremony Father Cavanaugh was good about keeping up a running translation for the five Americans present, telling us what was going on. (We all wondered if he spoke Portuguese with an Irish accent.).

After the wedding, which lasted about an hour, everyone loaded into taxis or private cars and were driven to Tia’s mother’s cousin’s house for the reception. We weren’t ready for the elegance of her home and the reception. The house and patio is totally surrounded by a six foot wall and was — for that night — transformed into a lovely, elegant reception hall. All the tables were covered in peach taffeta, with a small round cloth topper of white cutwork lace. The tables were each topped with a fresh flower arrangement. Lights were strung around and through the patio, and a large bar was set up (where they were serving mostly soft drinks and a little beer, later). There was music and dancing and everyone had a wonderful time.

Just a little cultural note: all the guests at the wedding were very dressed up. In spite of the heat, the men were all in suits and the women’s dresses were fussy and beautiful. Somehow in this country it has become chic to attend formal affairs dressed as if we were going to a ball game, so this was refreshing to this old grandma. What can we do to bring back this nice custom in the states?

After a short honeymoon (spent at a downtown hotel), the newlyweds are now living in an apartment in Teresina, waiting and praying for her visa. Please keep these young newlyweds in your prayers, especially that Tia receives her visa quickly and they can come to the U.S. as soon as possible.

We’re so happy to welcome our lovely young daughter-in-law into our family. I know how difficult it will be for her family to surrender her when the young couple moves to Nebraska. We reassured Maria de Cruz, Tia’s mother, as she cried in my arms, that we will care for Tia as we would our own daughter, but I can only imagine myself in the same position. Well, we’ll just have to convince the whole Barbosa-Nunez clan to move to the states with Tia and Ben. In short, we love our new Brazilian family, and we had a wonderful trip. Thank God everything worked out so perfectly as we felt His hand on us at every step.

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