Mawwiage....

I was unable to post for a few days while Maryanne and I were out of town for Caly's (my sister) wedding. In retrospect it would have been a good opportunity to test out posting by e-mail. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Maryanne and I made the trip to Sturgeon Bay on Thursday morning after our final closing for our house. The weather was pretty good, so I tried to get part of Mom's lawn mowed before the rehearsal. I accomplished what I wanted to, and was even able to say "Hi" to Aunt Mary and Uncle David before hitting the shower.

The rehearsal went well; everyone was able to find the Bridal Chapel with little difficulty. Afterwards it was off to the Nightingale for the rehearsal dinner. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

Friday were were mostly left to our own devices. Maryanne had an appointment for a manicure, so she and Mom drove in to town, and I took care of some other things around the house. Later the three of us met up with Aunt Mary, Uncle David, and Grandma A for dinner, then shared an after-dinner drink with Craig and Cynthia. Maryanne and I later met up with Adam, Sammie, and Jesse to hang out for a bit.

Things weren't looking too good Saturday morning, though as the weather was generally dismal-- the skies were overcast, and it had drizzled throughout the morning. Things cleared just in time to warm things up a bit for the preceremony photos, and then we made our way to the Bridal Chapel again for the ceremony. It went smoothly and quickly, and after some more photos we made our way to Stone Harbor. Caly had made arrangements with Carriages of Door County to get three carriages at Stone Harbor for the wedding party and families to ride to Leathem-Smith Lodge. The ride was fun, if a bit on the cool side.

Things were a bit chaotic upon our arrival. Guests were still arriving, and there was a tremendous hassle with the seating arrangements because someone with Leathem-Smith Lodge failed to follow directions. Everything got worked out though, and it turned in to a fun evening. It was nice to catch up with some people that I had not seen since my own wedding, and some people I hadn't seen for much longer.

The end of the evening brought its own frustrations as we tried to figure out the logistics of getting to our hotel room at Bridgeport, complicated by the fact that Mom's car was still there. We finally got it taken care of, though, but when the gift opening rolled around on Sunday, we were still exhausted. Unfortunately, Maryanne and I will have little time to recover this week, as we finish moving out of our old townhouse.

Throughout the weekend I thought of Dad's absence. There were reminders everywhere. Caly had included some words in her program, and had also chosen for one of her readings a passage written by Kahlil Gibran, an author whose appreciation we both learned from Dad. Aunt Mary passed on the necklace that Dad had given her for her 16th birthday. Caly had done me the honor of walking her down the aisle along with Mom, and later at the reception, dancing with her, in place of the father-daughter dance. I told her then that one of the first things I thought of when Dad passed away a year and a half ago was that he wouldn't be able to be there for her wedding. Later I danced with Mom, and she also mentioned how much she misses him. I know we all do.