topper

Best wishes to Rachel and Randy, who were married this weekend. While sitting at with new friends at the reception, Marilyn got up to take pictures of the wedding cake. When she returned, she commented how often the cake goes relatively unnoticed at wedding receptions. With all the time and money that is put into the cake, it's a shame that most of us do not give it much attention. Truth be told, I confess that I am more interested in eating it than gazing upon it.

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After the reception, I helped a little as we prepared the room for the next morning's church service. Then I saw the cake topper being stored away. Now that I could have more control of the background, the idea of a picture was more enticing. I took my wife's camera and got one very simple picture. Then she and Agnes had some ideas for the background. I liked their input, and here's what we came up with:

Jai Hind

According to Wikipedia, "Jai Hind" is an Indian patriotic salutation that roughly translates, "Victory to India" or "Long live India."

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India won the world cup! (Cricket.) For the record, I am an American egomaniac who doesn't know the first thing about the game of cricket. When I heard they won the world cup, I assumed that it was talking about soccer or futbol. And most of my knowledge of THAT sport comes from my son's soccer club.

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Anyhoo, I was thinking about India and soccer, and it made me smile, because my son is blessed to know several people of Indian descent through church and through soccer. This picture shows a pregame goal kick with two of our soccer pals. The defender with his back to us is a very skillful player whom I have nicknamed "Superfoot." The gent in the white jersey is their coach. They bring their whole family to the games, including Mrs. Coach, the baby and Grandpa.

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When I was a their age, I did not know ANY people from India. For much of my younger years, we only knew two cultures, caucasian and hispanic. Chicago may have all the nations of the world represented in the city, but it is still quite segregated.

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That's why I love the town where I live now. You pass a Bolingbrook church parking lot or walk through a supermarket, and you will find many cross-cultural friendships.

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This reminds me, a bigot once warned me not to let my oldest daughter date black (African) people. "What if they have children?" was supposed to be the convincing factor. But whether a child has an homogeneous or mixed lineage, are not ALL children beautiful?! Besides, mixed backgrounds produce some of the most amazing skin tones and features!

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Am I talking too much? Okay, I'll wrap it up now.

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What I meant to say was that I am grateful to be able to enjoy my friends with Indian roots. God bless you, and congratulations on that cricket thing. Jai Hind!