Wedding weekend

My trip over to the Atlantic coast was good. The weather reports I had looked at beforehand, fortunately, did not come true. The only pouring rain and thunder happened the night I arrived. Other than that, Mother Nature produced a lovely, mild weekend. No sweltering heat for me - thank goodness!


Pisces looked exactly as I have always pictured her. Her hair style has changed very little over the past, say, 5+ years. She's always had a simple bob. Its length might vary by an inch, but nothing else. As with many of my friends, her hair has darkened over the years from dark wheat blonde to an ash brown.

The wedding was lovely. It was a complete Catholic ceremony in a beautiful church off I-495. Behind the altar was a gorgeous stained glass window that stretched from floor to high ceiling. It reminded me a little of a Chagall painting. Afterwards, the reception was held in the loft of a converted barn a couple cities over. Everyone drank, ate, and chatted as we waited for the wedding party to take pictures and make their entrance.


A couple of the conversations I had included:

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Just outside of the church, Kata and I approached some of Pisces grad school friends who are now all professors. I introduced myself to MSM. Her name sounded familiar though neither of us recalled ever meeting. We covered the expected "how do you know Pisces" and other general information.

She and her husband now live in New Hampshire. The conversation started getting a little contentious when...

"I always knew my time in California was temporary."

"Oh, why is that? Too expensive?"

"No, actually the housing is not that bad. More so because I never really thought it was a good place to be an adult. Californians are so..."

"Laid back?"

"Not exactly... I'd say they're not very serious, somewhat selfish, and distracted with all the activities there are to do."

"What do you mean by selfish?"

"I don't see how you can work, be married, and raise a family properly with everything that goes on. It's not conducive to behaving like a grown up. Maybe someday when the kids are grown up we can go back there."

Naturally, I moved the conversation elsewhere. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but hers seemed particularly harsh. She made it sound like it's wrong to have fun. And she said it in a most non-chalant, matter-of-fact manner. I chalked it up to being an academic.

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I caught up with an old high-school chum, Epis. He is now married and was proudly holding his six-month old son throughout the evening. It's fascinating seeing this side of guys. I've never known him that well. When Pisces first learned she was moving East, she thought maybe they'd date. That idea died the minute she learned that he had converted to Catholicism in college after feeling that his local Protestant congregation was too liberal. He went to college in a fairly liberal region of the country, couldn't it have just been the environment versus the church?

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I had been told by Pisces family that Kata and I would be seated with her cousin, Walt. He was this medium height guy, about four-years younger than me. He's a computer programmer up in the Northwest.

Later, Pisces' sister encouraged me to dance. I kind of shrugged my shoulders. Then she said that Walt would like to dance with me but was too shy to ask. I said it was fine but pointed out that there were few people dancing. She grabbed Walt and her husband. The four of us danced for a few songs.

I talked with Walt while we danced. We also probably chatted for more than 30 minutes while we ate wedding cake. It was all just small talk and chat about the family. Nothing particularly memorable.

I was surprised Monday, at lunch, when Pisces mom seemed to be sniffing around as to whether I had a boyfriend and adding that Walt would be in my area in July. Pisces' sister also commented that he's nerdy but a really nice guy.

Wha, what? Is there something going on here that I should know about? First, it would be weird to date my good friend's cousin. Second, he lives some 500 miles away, not really a good setup. Third, he's four years younger... that shouldn't affect things too much, but realistically guys usually prefer dating younger women at this age.

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The rest of the wedding was good. The dinner was buffet style and included vegetarian lasagna, salmon, and chicken. The cake was a yummy yellow cake with custard and almonds.

I was surprised at her choice of a raspberry/fuschia color for the bridal party and reception. She has always expressed her dislike of pale pinks and red. I thought it funny she chose a color in that hue since we all know she LOVES navy blue. But considering the barn loft was dim, it was a nice accent to the room.

She looked like she was having a fun time dancing with the kids. They purposely played all the participatory wedding songs upfront - Chicken dance, Hokey Pokey, Electric Slide, and Macarena. I really enjoyed seeing her happy. I couldn't help think that it's true, every bride is beautiful.


Having kids around was quite entertaining. There were actually three girls who were similar in age (4-6?). They had a blast running around together and dancing. Pisces' brother-in-law took dozens of pictures of the girls hugging each other. I especially liked how they all kept visiting the cake table during dinner to stare at the four-tired, white frosted cake. Pisces' friend, El, brought her boys along. The youngest *really* liked to dance. He told me that he learned from watching the Disney channel. So cute.

And, I did get to see Pisces on Monday. I'm glad that at the end of the wedding, she asked Kata and I to check in with her on Sunday night. We could meet up with her and the family for an outing at the science museum. (Where else do you go when you have small nieces? ;) ) We each were able to have few minutes of one-on-one conversation with her as we strolled through the museum. At lunch, we sat next to her and Peter so we got a little feel for his personality. He is a smart man with a gentle personality. It should be a good fit for her.

Yup, a good weekend. And now... there's a hell of a lot at work and at home to catch up on!