Hitched in the hills

Hitched? Me? Nah. It’s not my time yet. And not that I don’t like talking about myself, but come on. I had been holding my blogger tongue for too long.

Life got busy and hectic in a way that I wasn’t sure I’d blog about. Then I realized how silly I was being… my brother got married! So who wouldn’t want to hear about a bunch of Koreans descending on a little-known Victorian town in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, a town only second behind Las Vegas in sheer number of marriage ceremonies performed per year? (that’s 6,000 per year, baby)

Yeah, there’s a story or two there. And I miss everybody SO much, absolutely homesick, but that’s how it is when you’re family is large and scattered all around the world. Such meeting times are precious and all-too-rare and will always remain close to my heart.

And OMG, we love our grammas!! Though one was not well enough to make the trans-Pacific flight, my other gramma was determined. She flew Korea to New Jersey to NW Arkansas for my brother’s wedding without breaking a sweat. Now that’s what I call perseverance — and the magic of flying Business Class. Uh-huh, only the best for our grammas, thank you very much.

.

Who knew? We were within a few miles of Turpentine Creek, one of the world’s largest big cat reserves.

Charming reception. He was just trying to eat my sunglasses a moment ago.

.

The wonderful people of Turpentine Creek have a mission. That mission is to rescue and take care of big cats that were abused, neglected, abandoned. This one, Hercules, is being rehabilitated to re-enter the savanna on premises.

Talk to the tongue. “Taking animals from the wild sucks” sayeth king of jungle.

.

Back in the land of lamps, plates and homemade waffles, it’s breakfast with my aunts, mom and gramma. All simply heroes to me.

♥ At the table with the Great Ladies ♥

.

Here’s three generations of Brava in front of the chapel. I would have loved to have dressed in traditional Korean hanbok too, but I got to wear the bridesmaid gown, which was an honor, of course.

Tora Brava, Gramma Brava, Mamma Brava

.

And yes, there was a wedding, and it started like this…*anticipation*

.

It was a beautiful ceremony. When we went in the day was light and dusky in the forest. You could see all that change during the ritual as most of the chapel was made of clear glass and nature. The ceremony was complete. Then, released into the electric night, everyone and their uncle proceeded to get drunk off their asses and made a run for the nearest lake. It was awesome. Thank you, Arkansas. WE LOVE YOU AND GOOD NITE!!!