A Fun Family Wedding

I finally found my camera. I had left it at church! I didn't actually find it, but a church staff person told me she had it and was pretty sure it was mine. I was SO HAPPY to get my camera back. It's nice to have another option in my cell phone, but that phone camera just does not cut it when I want to take real pictures. And, unfortunately, I had not been reunited with my real camera when our niece got married a week ago.

Nevertheless I managed to get some nice pictures (and some duds) which I share with you today. The wedding was last Saturday: a beautiful though a bit chilly fall day. Wedding took place in a park, and then reception was in a building which used to be a church but has been renovated to become a community center. Beautiful place!

Before the ceremony -- professional photos were done except for a couple of shots like this... then they're walking back to the shelter to keep warm before the wedding begins.

parents of the bride (my husband's sister), and arrival of the grandparents, helped by our nephew:

Our niece was full of laughter and joy - bride and groom adore each other.

Below: happy hugs, our daughter and her honey, the 4 at the table are hubby's brother and his wife, with hubby and me.

Group shot above is all the cousins on our side (hubby's side) of the family, our kids' generation. Missing was our son who is in Korea.

The happy couple is back at their new home and new jobs in Nebraska. They won't get a honeymoon until a year from now.

Cousins 2015

I have returned from our annual cousins gathering in northern Minnesota. As usual, it was wonderful. We read a book and discussed it, I celebrated my birthday, the fall colors were changing as we watched, the lake was beautiful. All in all, it was a lovely time.

My sister gave me a choice of cake or pie for dessert on my birthday. I chose pie. Yum!

Oops! I have some photos repeated. Oh, well.. it was THAT pretty!

40 Years -- How Did This Happen?

Yesterday (Aug 24) was our 40th anniversary. I can't imagine where all the time went. It sneaks up on a person in such a hurry.

at the eastern-most point in Australia, at Byron Bay

As you know, we went to Australia in May, which was our early anniversary celebration. This weekend, when it really was our anniversary, we were going to go out of town to celebrate, but at the last minute we decided we'd rather stay home. We had a secret Stay-cation, not telling many people that we had stayed in town. Every day we decided to do a little thing to commemorate the anniversary.

Friday night we went out for dinner with my cousin and her husband. They bought us cupcakes afterwards for our anniversary (no photo). Saturday we went to Stone Cold Creamery after dinner for an ice cream treat (no photo). Sunday we went to a bookstore which recently moved into downtown Saint Paul, and then took a short walk around downtown.

We saw this newly-married couple. I hope they are lucky enough to have a happy marriage and some day celebrate their 40th anniversary, too. Strange thought to think that we probably won't be around to help them celebrate.

On Monday we delivered some food to the local food shelf. I wore a home-made veil. Haha! Fun and crazy idea.. I didn't even wear a veil on the original wedding day! We had a modified-hippie wedding in 1975. I wore flowers in my hair, but no veil.

I am a lucky woman to have such a nice husband and good marriage! Here's to 40 more (or as many as we can eke out).

Life: Aging and Death

I know my post title is very somber today. Well, sometimes life is difficult and one must sit back and ponder. Last week my mom went back into the hospital. She was in awful shape. She has congestive heart failure and was experiencing a bad bout - lots of fluid build-up and extreme weakness/fatigue along with shortness of breath. In the hospital they were able to help her get back to pretty good condition. She was pink-cheeked and spunky again by the time she was released. Now her challenge is to maintain this level of health so that she doesn't have another scary time like that one.

This little scare reminded me that she is mortal. Sounds crazy, but it was a jolt to be reminded that she won't be with us forever. At one point I looked at her in her hospital bed, and she looked so vulnerable. My mom is tough and strong. I have never thought of her as vulnerable. That was a bit of a shock.

The hospital and my sister were going to communicate with Mom's assisted living facility and ask for a few more services, to help keep my mom on a more even keel. We have our fingers crossed.

My mom is 93. Love!

Oh.. amidst the scariness, I was in town just in time to attend a concert. The town has an annual music festival which brings in professional musicians from various symphonies and orchestras around the country and world. Fabulous concert... and there was a lovely, cool evening with a pretty sunset.

In more bad news, last week there was a horrible event in my town. A police officer was shot to death during a routine traffic stop. He didn't even get as far as up to the car to chat with the driver. The driver just pulled out a gun and shot him in the head. The officer was 47 years old and leaves behind a wife and two teen-age kids. Our town is heart-broken. It's a small, quiet suburb with a small police force. The town has shown wonderful support to the family. Today was the funeral. The procession from the church to the cemetery went right through my neighborhood, so I joined the vigil. It was very emotional. Police from everywhere came to join the procession. I saw cars from all over Minnesota, of course, and from North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin and even Canada. Very moving. The hearse went by, followed by the family. The two teenagers were waving out the window, signing "I love you" which I signed back.

My childhood friend was with me during the procession. Her father died when she was 12. She felt a kinship with these teens who are now without a father. May his children heal and grow with love despite their trauma and loss.

Before the event started, some on-duty police handed out stickers to kids in our group:

quiet. respectful. emotional.

Peace and Love to all.

A Movie, Dinner, and 38 Years

Today is our wedding anniversary! We were married 38 years ago today. It has been 38 years of FUN and happiness.

After our vacation was aborted due to high heat and humidity, we decided going to a movie would be a nice, cool thing to do. We saw "The Butler." It was good! After the movie, the entire audience in the theater must have been feeling moved... only one solitary person got up right away and left as the credits began to roll. I have never seen that happen before. Usually most people get up pretty quickly and leave; hubby and I tend to be the last folks, still sitting there and watching the credits to their bitter end. (Why? We just like to... it doesn't feel finished until we get to that very end.) Anyway, I took it as a sign that everyone had to sit and let it soak in for a few minutes before they could get themselves out of their seats to go back out into the world.

The movie made me feel incredibly sad about all the people in our world whose lives have been trampled, or they never had a chance, or their lives were snuffed out by violence or war. (No, it wasn't news to me; just a painful reminder.)

We liked the movie, but... (just a warning -- we'll probably be in the minority with this opinion) ... we wished it hadn't been so dramatically fictionalized to include every important, historical event that occurred during those years. According to what we have heard about the real-life butler, he was always very respectful and kind, making all the presidents love him and feel as Reagan said, "you feel like part of the family." We would have liked the movie to be more about that... the guy himself, the work he did, the interactions he had with the presidents and others in the White House.

It was very Forrest Gump-ish in the way it tried to include every meaningful historical event. We would have liked a more focused story about the Butler.

Oh, well... we still liked it and are glad we went.

So today is our anniversary, and we plan to go out for dinner. I have a coupon for Restaurant "B", so I guess we'll go there. Should be yummy. It always is.

Isn't 38 years of marriage amazing? I think so. I have been so lucky. My husband has been so patient and has put up with a lot! My advice for a happy marriage: find a patient partner who loves you despite your egregious faults. Like each other, and have a sense of humor.