May 02, 2008

Ceremonies

Congratulations to Brian and Julie! We left last Saturday morning for Cleveland, Ohio to witness our good friends' wedding ceremony (and to seriously enjoy their exciting reception!) We upgraded our rental car to a roomy SUV which enabled us to pack little Alexander and his parents Roger and Mary into our rental vehicle to travel an hour from the hotel to the church where the ceremony was held. Roger and Mary were accommodating Auntie KB's need to stare longingly at the beautiful little sleeping face of Alexander - how sweet and how well it worked out! I can't even begin to gush enough about Alexander. His skin is so clear and soft and his tiny hands were balled around my fingers (well, given I shoved my index finger into the sleeping grip, that is!) I got to stare at him during the ceremony, as well, in between little emotional tears for Brian and Julie. We've known those two for a long time, Brian, specifically. Brian worked with Roger in Milwaukee years ago, then Brian moved to Detroit where he met Craig and me. Three years later I met Roger in St. Louis. It's nice to have friends from all parts of the country tied to one another. And what's funniest, still, is that all of them - Craig, Brian, Roger and Mary - attended Purdue University at similar times in same programs (Mary's was a little different) and yet never crossed paths. It's enough to make you wonder if you don't wind up meeting and adoring the people you're meant to eventually meet, even with near misses in the past! Anyway, Brian has always been like a brother to me. Craig roomed with Brian in Farmington Hills, Michigan, briefly, and later I accompanied Brian to Barbados on a free trip after his then-girlfriend ditched him two weeks prior to departure! We're all very similar in our senses of humor and sensibilities, so our relationships with one another have always been strong. It was great to see Brian and Julie cross over into another chapter of their lives. The reception was a blast (Alexander sat that part out and stayed warm and cozy at Mary's mother's house) with the glowing bride and groom dancing to their fantastic live local band and everyone in attendance dancing and cheering on the newlyweds. The cake shown above was an impostor cake, we learned. After cake was served and we heartily inhaled it, the cake above remained as it appears in the photo. Craig turned, confused, to Mary and me and said, "Am I confused, or did we just eat cake?" Mary said, "I ate cake. You ate cake." Craig said, "Well what is that thing doing then?" and pointed to the lovely piece of art shown above. Mary explained that sometimes caterers will have sheet cake in the back that gets served, while the example shown above is out for show only. That wasn't good enough for Roger and Craig, who set out on a mission to determine whether the cake above was real. Roger dodged up to the table with his camera, snapping photographs and Craig deftly walked to the back of the cake and ran an index finger along the base of the "frosting" to test its authenticity. The two returned to the table and Craig announced, "Yep, it's real" right as Brian sat down at our table. I was laughing enough that Brian said, "What?" and I had had several cocktails and explained that we weren't quite sure what was up with that cake. Brian said, without missing a beat, "Yeah, everyone's asking the same thing!" but in the end, none of us, the groom included, ever learned the fate of that cake!*Great to see good friends, to celebrate wedded bliss and a new brilliant baby. Sunday morning we headed out to eat breakfast and landed at a Family Diner that served us both coffees, omelettes, hash browns and toast for the low, low price of $10.24 (the total on the tab). Nice! Good old Ohio. And we arrived back in the City around 4-something Sunday, after swinging by Brian and Julie's house to wish them a great honeymoon in Cabo (they're staying at our RIU! We are so envious!) and after enduring weird security checks at Hopkins and climbing aboard the mini plane and reading magazines cover to cover, etc. Our cab ride home from Kennedy was bizarre, too. I jumped in first while Craig loaded the trunk with our single checked bag and the Rastafarian cabbie had loud, loud reggae blasting through the cab. Craig got in and was immediately annoyed and asked the guy to turn it down. I swear the guy swerved from nearly falling asleep like 4 times, and once we arrived on our street he swore loudly at the driver ahead of us. Then he dropped us off and as Craig headed to the trunk, the cabbie began to drive off. "Sir!!!" I shouted, "Our bag!" and he abruptly stopped and jumped out to apologize to Craig. Most cab rides in New York City are similar: non-English speaking local chattering endlessly into an ear piece (phone conversations that seem one-sided, given how longwinded some of the drivers tend to be), jerky brakes at stop lights, but an overall general respect for the fares seated in the back. On occasion, you might end up with an odd duck. I think that's what we found to deliver us from Kennedy to our apartment last weekend.*The week has been good. I haven't said it yet because it was a quickly evolved plan, but we're moving! Yes, we're moving...we're waiving our chance to sign a THIRD YEAR'S LEASE (unheard of) to move approximately four buildings closer to 2nd Avenue in a drastically differently-laid out apartment. It's a long story, and I'll save it for another time because Craig is anxious to kick off movie night after overwhelming platefuls of Indian delivery from Dakshin on 1st (our first experience with them...it was good but I prefer Baluchi's tikka masala). But I will say this much: tomorrow we head to the management company's office to sign this new lease, and after that, we are traveling down to SoHo to window shop for furniture. Why have we ever purchased anything at the old standby Linens n Things or Bed, Bath & Beyond when there exist such eccentric and modern shops as CB2 and Room and Board?? We've got style at our fingertips and yet we've insisted on the generic housing goods at chain housingware stores?? I look forward to what these places have to offer. I'm on the horizon of having only one remaining monthly payment besides rent, and I am beyond relieved to be able to say that and know that it's true. There are still several more months before I've arrived at such financial liberty, but I'm closer than I was two years ago, which is leaps and bounds for me. So new (albeit reasonably priced) furniture, my new camera and a completely different outlook are soon to be ours! I can only be patient.*Here's to a weekend in the City for us to unwind and do our thing. Work is good, we are good, our health is good and all I could ask for is a nice night's sleep after a movie...ah, the weekend.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

KB evidently had a couple more cocktails than I thought, the cake who's fate we never found out???...yeah, we ate that cake, it was awesome, much better the first generic cake they served right after dinner. KB, where were you? CB.

8:26 PM  
Blogger KB said...

It made for a better story to act like we never learned the fate. Don't you know me by now???

10:08 PM  

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