Wedding Wings

I've been silent all week, and honestly I've meant to get around to saying something but it's just not happening. But I've got a pretty good excuse--how often do weddings come around? Yes, my youngest sister and twin, Melissa, got married this week and everthing else was forgotten.

Curtis' family is living in Venezuela (something to do with the job) and decided to see Alaska in style via a cruise and that meant two in-laws, his sister plus husband would be visiting. My own grandmother was up from Idaho for the occasion, Luke and Becca were in from Washington, D.C. before he starts law school, Melanie here from Utah before she enters grad school, and then we permanent Alaskans--Mom and Dad, Carinne and Kendall, Dan and Rebecca, Andrew and I and the twelve grandchildren we've all produced--also joined in. And that's only immediate family.

This doesn't even include extended family--Uncle Jim, Aunt Ann, my cousins Megan, Tom, Emily, Keith, Amanda, Grandma and Grandpa and four more children. It's kind of that Big Fat Greek Wedding thing without the Greek.

So we're talking a lot of relatives and a lot of children but a lot of fun. But with all those bodies every bed and couch was taken to the point of overflow. Curtis' two friends, Nate and Chris were up for the wedding and ended up staying with us in our playhouse out back. It's a huge shed we converted to a playhouse by adding windows, a loft, carpet and furniture where the kids can hang out. Andrew's said we ought to run a gerbil tube out to it and make it into a mother-in-law apartment. It's not yet clear which mother-in-law would be involved.

But not a bad place to stay in the summer--we set out air mattresses, pillows and sleeping bags and ran an extension cord and space heater out there for added comfort. Holiday Inn couldn't be cozier. Quite a bachelor pad--Alaskan style.

My boys were thrilled to have extra testosterone around and took advantage of the situation with much wrestling and manliness. Grace, on the other hand was thrilled with the added feminity of the event--the yellow roses, the diamond rings (or "wedding wings" according to Lillian), the creme puffs and a dress that looked as fluffy and satiny as meringue. Grace even had a corsage to wear which just topped everything off perfectly.

That was Wednesday. By now they're married and off to Hawaii for the honeymoon, the in-laws have gone back to Venezuela and Grandma's back in Idaho. All that's left is 150 truffles and the six pounds I gained from eating the ones that didn't make it.

I think Mom is sleeping better now, in Andrew's opinion she's the World's Sweetest Mother-in-Law and he swears he's never seen her upset or ruffled but by the end of the wedding day she was starting to look a little wild around the eyes.

She was looking forward to a day of relaxation once the bride and groom were safely on the plane and for the most part everything went as planned. They greeted guests, cut the cake, opened presents, packed up and were off to the airport for the two a.m. flight. Mom breathed a deep sigh and planned to sleep forever. It wasn't until the next morning she found out they'd walked off (or flew off) with the car keys in their pocket. Sigh. It was still a great day.

So at least you can see the photos--of Melissa and Curtis; the immediate family group; our backyard Holiday Inn; Lillian and me; Curtis, Nate and Chris' U2 picture (think Joshua Tree); David wondering how much longer the picture-taking will last and whether he could escape before anyone noticed; the view from the back of the photo line-up; and David grinning and bearing it.

Technorati tags: weddings, family, celebrations, Alaska