Happily Ever After

I tell you what, y'all - if all my weddings were that wonderful, smooth and easy...well, shoot, I'd be working every weekend from last week till the end of October. Wait a minute, I AM working every weekend from last week till the end of October. Huh. Innnnteresting. Well, without going into too much detail, I just have to say how very much I enjoyed the entire day.

Every last one of the (many) vendors, from the excellent caterers/bartenders to the photographer, to the band to the guy who we hired to motor the bride and groom in his excellent 64 Caddy (totally re-done, chromed out and very, very loud) said the same thing: That was the most fun wedding we've done in a long, long time", and, "What a great couple! They're so genuinely happy!"

Thankfully, the weather was absolutely perfect...the rain held off from soaking my paper lanterns that we'd hung in the trees on the patio until late Saturday night, or maybe it was yesterday morning, I'm not sure. At any rate, yesterday the weather was entirely gray, drippy, rainy and cooler than yesterday by quite a few degrees. It was as if fall arrived in our sleep, and I can't say I'm entirely displeased, despite the problems I will have if it keeps up like this.

Speaking of weather...in our family, we do this a lot. Rarely do I get a message from any of them that doesn't start with a detailed two or three-minute synopsis of what the it's been like (cold/rainy), what it was the other day (snow in the mountains) and what it's like right at the very second of the call (fall leaves, windy, beautifully crisp). I was listening to my dad on the phone a few nights ago and realized, "Weather, one of those 'safe' topics that other families talk about when they're skirting some other delicate issue...is of major interest to all of us." I pondered this for a couple of minutes and decided that its how we keep connected. They need to know what temperature the ocean is and exactly how the fog is rolling in so they can picture this, their home for so long, and figure they'll return the favor so I can try and imagine the Colorado mountain country in fall.

I realized that by bringing this tenuous thread of conversation up in the beginning, we've managed to transition to talking about all manner of topics. We've covered everything from substance issues to old friends and memories to death to the many things we disagree on (love of camping, appropriate weather for winter, necessity of computers for daily life, etc). Thankfully, there are many more things that we agree on (gaucho pants are ugly, the super-abundance of spoiled kids now, cremation). Communication, after all, is the key to a happy family. Speaking of which, I'm sending out a special congratulations to Eric and Rebekah and their new family. May you live happily ever after.