The Wedding

Saturday, June 28, 2008

It is two weeks later and I still don't know how to put into words the wedding experience. I can very simply say it was the classiest wedding I have ever been to. I can also very simply say that it was probably one of the most moving days of my life. But none of that even comes near what I feel about all of it.

First and foremost, I have to say that the bride and groom worked so hard to pull off a first class event and it all paid off. Everything was amazing. The location was awesome. The girls' dresses were gorgeous. I don't know what word describes more than beautiful but whatever it is, that is what Janet was. Her gown was so gorgeous and her change dress was awesome. The food was amazing. The music was great. Everything from start to finish was perfect. Besides being so classy, I think what made it perfect was that everyone had so much fun. Nick gives all the credit to Janet and her attention to detail which gave so much polish to the day. I can't wait to see the pictures as I have heard about a lot of things I missed. Food/ice carvings? OK, not to be left out, Inki, the best man, added his own very distinctive touch to the day. Actually, his speech can be seen on You-tube.

I spent a lot of time listening to music, trying to find

"the perfect song" to dance to with Nick. I finally settled

on "Forever Young" by Rod Steward. The words were perfect. I don't know who cried the most, Nick or I. But they cut the song short, leaving out some of the best words--"whatever road you choose, I right behind you win or lose....forever young.....forever young". Whatever--it was still such a heartfelt moment, one not soon to be forgotten.

It was the first time so many of my family have been in NY all at the same time. I think it was also the first time so many of us have been together in a long time for something besides a funeral. I am so thankful to everyone who made the effort to share the day with us as it mattered so much to all of us. It was a good time hanging around the pool for a couple of nights and the day after in my home. We never really have the opportunity to share our home with family so that made it even nicer.

Uncle Nick also came all the way from Florida and had piled up 1438 miles by the time he got to the hotel. (But who's counting, right?) His presence made Liz and Nick and I even more aware that their dad was floating around there somewhere, hopefully being very happy watching what was going on. He was certainly in all of our thoughts during all the happenings in the last couple of weeks, particularly at the wedding.

Once we have the opportunity to see the photographers' photos, I will be posting more here. I know they will be excellent but they will still fail to capture all the emotions whirling around that day.

Nick and Janet, I could not have been prouder. Thank you for so many things.

Now, I have a very long list of things to do/take care of "ATW"--after the wedding. But as Nick so kindly pointed out to me a couple of days ago-everything is ATW now.

They are "in that basement"

Wednesday, June 11. 2008

"If anyone wonders about the future of live theater and wonders where the audience is, they are "under that tent"-NY Times article referring to the Shakespeare Festival at Boscobel, NY. Boscobel is a restored mansion that sits on acres and acres and acres of beautiful property sitting on the Hudson River. For about 12 years we have been enjoying the festival, going to at least one of the plays which are performed "under that tent" during the summer. Last night was opening night for the 2008 season and we were there to enjoy "Cymbeline" despite forecasts of severe thunder storms passing through the area. It was very hot and very, very humid during the first act and intermission. Just as the second act was unfolding it became very breezy and quickly progressed to very windy, blowing the sand and sawdust into everyone's eyes-especially the actors. It is pretty much a theater in the round and the floor is the earth and straw and sawdust. It is a beautiful venue as they use the backdrop, a expansive lawn dropping down to the Hudson River and the entire backdrop is the river. All of us were sort of pretending that the lightning that had now been flashing for about half an hour was not making us anxious. We were in a very large tent, with steel poles holding it up. No worry. They came out and announced that they were suspending the performance until the sand stopped blowing into the actors' mouths. Within a few minutes the wind became even stronger, the lightning even closer and the rain started coming down. What should we do? The parking lot is a good distance from the tent. In a matter of only another minute or so one of the staff came out and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very serious storm. We are asking that all of you leave the tent in an orderly manner through this exit where staff will direct you to the basement of the mansion until we can resume the play." What? Definitely a scary storm. Evacuating? So off we all go in an "orderly manner" into the basement of the mansion. We ended up in the boiler room with metal doors and lots of metal "stuff" all around us. And overhead some very heavy metal, huge "things" that if they came crashing down-well, they didn't. We were there for only about 15 minutes and then returned to our seats in an "orderly manner" for the completion of the play. "The show must go on."

These pictures are obviously not from last night but rather from 2007 but they give you the idea of the tent, the mansion, the backdrop.

One more week

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Can't wait. Am so excited. It is going to be nice. I keep looking at the weather and I'm not sure why because there is nothing I can do about it. Sort of like death and taxes. The end of last week they were predicting thunderstorms for five days in a row the weekend of the wedding. Then all of a sudden-like a miracle-there wasn't a drop of rain in sight all the way out as far as they were predicting. Then this morning "possibility of thunderstorms-20%" popped up for Saturday only. Like I said, I don't know why I keep looking at it.

Yesterday Liz and I went to Madison Square Park after meeting up with the wedding party for a "rehearsal dinner". Madison Square Park is where the old Madison Square Garden used to me, so Nick informed me yesterday. Anyway, they were holding the New York City Barbecue Fest there this weekend. Nick and Janet had gone last year, had a great time and a lot of people expressed an interest in going this year so there we were.

The papers Friday were predicting 1,000,000 people and I expect that those expectations were met. It was street to street people and then some. Amazing how many people can fit into an area. There were tables and tables and tents and tents of food-all barbecue fare. I had my first pulled pork sandwich ever and it was delicious. Also had some good ribs and some great coleslaw. There was a beer tent, a dessert area.

The down side of it was that it was something like 97 degrees in the shade and the humidity was very, very high. I heard the "real feel" was 104 degrees. I do believe it. Again, something no one could do anything about anyway.

It was nice to see the guys whom I haven't seen in a while and it was very nice to meet Janet's bridesmaids. We are all going to be looking a little different the next time we see each other. Hopefully the buckets of sweat won't be pouring off of us.

Let's see---how do you spell STRESS? All you have to do is look at Nick's face.

More flowers that won't be blooming for the wedding. Probably what Nick is stressed about.

Flowers That Won't Be Blooming For The Wedding

Sunday, June 1, 2008

These are the flowers in my yard that are really beautiful at the moment but will be only memories in two weeks. But Umi will still be here----

The House

Sunday, June 1, 2008

It has been a long time but it seems like there is a lot going on.

First and foremost, the wedding. Everything seems to flow from that. I am getting more and more excited as the time gets nearer and nearer. Two more weeks and it will be a done deal. I am equally excited that so many people from my family are coming for it. It is going to be fun.

Uncle Nick is leaving on Wednesday (this Wednesday) and taking a week to get here with a few stops along the way. Mary and Dave and John and Dianne are leaving next Thursday as are Karen and Charlie. People are flying, driving. It is all going to be fun and some will be around for a few days, a week, anything in between.

I don't remember being this excited about my own wedding although I probably was. I actually hardly remember anything about my own wedding. Most of the scenes that come to mind are from pictures in the wedding album. That was 40 years ago. A whole different life.

The house. After about seven years, all of the major updates, cleaning up, etc. are done except for the basement and that won't be for a couple of years. I looked up the papers the other day and the lot itself is drawn out and measured on a survey in 1902. Reville St. was known as Queen's Place then but the lot was defined. There is a certificate of occupancy for John and Katherine Loughman issued in 1930. They built the house and that is whom we bought it from in 1977. We moved in in 1978, 30 years ago, also a whole different life.

Because we had no money in 1977, after we had stolen, begged and borrowed to get the $49,000 mortgage, we did almost no work in updating it except we did have the electrician come in and completely rewire it before we even moved in. Every single room in the house had one electrical outlet and one ceiling light. That was it. Even the kitchen.

The walls were covered with the original wallpaper with no sizing. In 1983 Al's mother passed away and there was some money available to us then so we had all of the walls torn down everywhere in the house, insulation installed (there was none except for a few newspapers!) and the news walls were painted an offwhite to go with the offwhite carpet that we laid throughout the entire house except for the kids' rooms where we had color.

In 1985 we redid the kitchen and added a front porch but that was it for a long time.

In 1998 Al withdrew pension and as our divorce decree said that I would get half of it and he realized he would not be able to spend what he did have, he started giving that money to me and I used it to redo the house. New roof, windows, concerete, paint outside were all done before Al passed away and I was happy that he could see what was being done and appreciate it.

Eventually I had every room inside repainted, new curtains, carpet, going from off white in every room to robin's egg blue, lavender, sunshine, lemon, grass, avocado, adobe, etc.

It is amazing to look at all that has been done and realize to do this right, it won't be many years before the rooms should be repainted again. What?

So the house is ready. I guess it is ready for the wedding as well as the rest of my life.