Little and Big Surprises: Door #1
October has been an interesting month for me and I have had some surprises bring a smile to my face. I've had a smile brought to my face for many precious moments that were shared with good people, safe travels and special occasions.
For starters, my birthday was in early October and my friend, Little Di, came down from Everett for the weekend. Neither of us has had free flowing money to spend, so our time spent together is usually by frugal means. We don't mind. We actually enjoy hanging out with each other and don't need to patronage casinos, restaurants, shopping malls or movie theaters to have fun. We actually accomplished some errands, walked through downtown Olympia, the local farmer's market and as usual, played a lot of nickel anti poker with wine at our side. When I was at her place the last two visits, I think I walked away $3-5 richer. It always surprises me when I beat her. This time we broke even.
My flights to and from Houston for my daughter's wedding were without incident other than coming back to Seattle. I was checking in my bags twenty minutes late and they refused to board me. I got bumped to the next flight. I wasn't surprised when this happened. That was okay, my fault, I overslept and Brian and I high tailed it to the Houston airport already behind schedule. I notified my friend KP who had offered to drive me to and from the airport so she knew I was delayed. Brian's flight was due to leave much later anyway.
The wedding was no surprise to me as my organized daughter had her timelines down to the half hour. We had a lovely week together. A surprise was when my oldest son was asked to build a Chuppah for the wedding ceremony. This is a "Jewish wedding canopy" of which the bride and groom stand under, during the ceremony. Yes, my new son in law is Jewish and yes, there were jokes abound that Shauna's Catholic brother was asked to build the Jewish Chuppah. (It's pronounced hoopa.) It turned out lovely which was no surprise. Brian is my carpenter. I will add that son in law's family doesn't practice their faith any more than we practice our Catholic upbringing. They will have Christmas trees and maybe a Menorah on a side table.
A surprise was how much fun I had with Shauna's bridal party. One night about four of them came to her house and we helped finish table cards, gift bags, seating charts...etc...and the guys served us beer and pizza while we did these detailed tasks. They were so much fun and they were telling my daughter, "I love your mom," during our jokes and laughter. Her maid of honor lives in Spokane, WA and promised to look me and my two sons up when she's in the area. She's a new found sister for my guys. We spent a lot of time together over those next few days.
I did not get a surprise when I saw my three beautiful, young adults walk down the wedding aisle. I knew this was when I would shed the most tears. I did, but maintained my composure and did not shed nearly as many as I thought I would. I knew seeing them in this setting would choke me up.
My youngest son, Jason, who is the least emotional of my three kids, surprised me many times. First of all, both of my sons bought their $200 suits for the wedding. Now they will have them and they were custom tailored. They looked more handsome than I have ever seen them. They felt classy and stylish and quite full of themselves. My youngest son's ego came out many times, especially being around these female beauties in Eric and Shauna's circle of friends.
He really surprised me right before the wedding ceremony started. My daughter was escorted into the hallway before her walk down the aisle. He looked at me and said, "Shauna looks stunning." He had such a beautiful look on his face when he said it. Then they walked her down the aisle.
Another moment he surprised me; after the wedding and the reception was closed down around 11:00 PM, a bunch of people were heading to a bar, next to the hotel where the bridal party had booked rooms. Brian was driving the rental car, I was the front seat passenger and Jason needed to retrieve his debit card from the hotel room. So, when we were stopped at a red light near our destination, Mr. Smooth hopped out of the car, straightened his suit and stepped off the curb, held his hand towards upcoming traffic in the "Stop" position. He literally stopped traffic and strutted across the street as if to say, "yea, ya better stop for me." Me and Brian could not stop laughing for several minutes, to think he was cocky enough to do that AND NOT get hit or have something thrown at him. Three lanes of traffic stopped, mind you they were probably only going 25 or 30 mph on this city street, but it was still a sight for sore eyes.
For starters, my birthday was in early October and my friend, Little Di, came down from Everett for the weekend. Neither of us has had free flowing money to spend, so our time spent together is usually by frugal means. We don't mind. We actually enjoy hanging out with each other and don't need to patronage casinos, restaurants, shopping malls or movie theaters to have fun. We actually accomplished some errands, walked through downtown Olympia, the local farmer's market and as usual, played a lot of nickel anti poker with wine at our side. When I was at her place the last two visits, I think I walked away $3-5 richer. It always surprises me when I beat her. This time we broke even.
My flights to and from Houston for my daughter's wedding were without incident other than coming back to Seattle. I was checking in my bags twenty minutes late and they refused to board me. I got bumped to the next flight. I wasn't surprised when this happened. That was okay, my fault, I overslept and Brian and I high tailed it to the Houston airport already behind schedule. I notified my friend KP who had offered to drive me to and from the airport so she knew I was delayed. Brian's flight was due to leave much later anyway.
The wedding was no surprise to me as my organized daughter had her timelines down to the half hour. We had a lovely week together. A surprise was when my oldest son was asked to build a Chuppah for the wedding ceremony. This is a "Jewish wedding canopy" of which the bride and groom stand under, during the ceremony. Yes, my new son in law is Jewish and yes, there were jokes abound that Shauna's Catholic brother was asked to build the Jewish Chuppah. (It's pronounced hoopa.) It turned out lovely which was no surprise. Brian is my carpenter. I will add that son in law's family doesn't practice their faith any more than we practice our Catholic upbringing. They will have Christmas trees and maybe a Menorah on a side table.
A surprise was how much fun I had with Shauna's bridal party. One night about four of them came to her house and we helped finish table cards, gift bags, seating charts...etc...and the guys served us beer and pizza while we did these detailed tasks. They were so much fun and they were telling my daughter, "I love your mom," during our jokes and laughter. Her maid of honor lives in Spokane, WA and promised to look me and my two sons up when she's in the area. She's a new found sister for my guys. We spent a lot of time together over those next few days.
I did not get a surprise when I saw my three beautiful, young adults walk down the wedding aisle. I knew this was when I would shed the most tears. I did, but maintained my composure and did not shed nearly as many as I thought I would. I knew seeing them in this setting would choke me up.
My youngest son, Jason, who is the least emotional of my three kids, surprised me many times. First of all, both of my sons bought their $200 suits for the wedding. Now they will have them and they were custom tailored. They looked more handsome than I have ever seen them. They felt classy and stylish and quite full of themselves. My youngest son's ego came out many times, especially being around these female beauties in Eric and Shauna's circle of friends.
He really surprised me right before the wedding ceremony started. My daughter was escorted into the hallway before her walk down the aisle. He looked at me and said, "Shauna looks stunning." He had such a beautiful look on his face when he said it. Then they walked her down the aisle.
Another moment he surprised me; after the wedding and the reception was closed down around 11:00 PM, a bunch of people were heading to a bar, next to the hotel where the bridal party had booked rooms. Brian was driving the rental car, I was the front seat passenger and Jason needed to retrieve his debit card from the hotel room. So, when we were stopped at a red light near our destination, Mr. Smooth hopped out of the car, straightened his suit and stepped off the curb, held his hand towards upcoming traffic in the "Stop" position. He literally stopped traffic and strutted across the street as if to say, "yea, ya better stop for me." Me and Brian could not stop laughing for several minutes, to think he was cocky enough to do that AND NOT get hit or have something thrown at him. Three lanes of traffic stopped, mind you they were probably only going 25 or 30 mph on this city street, but it was still a sight for sore eyes.
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Trust me, the best times with friends, the times you will remember,are the times spent doing the simplest of things.