Post mortem anyone? – Part 2

Hi –

Picking up where I left off has me sleeping until 11 on Sunday and getting up in enough time to have a sideline seat as the luggage, wedding paraphernalia, and number of travelers were organized into 4 cars. It was entertaining enough I have to say. There were way more people than there should have been for the 4 cars. In the end it all worked out just fine, and we even stopped for some tasty burgers and one of the best chocolate shakes I have tasted. Some place called Gotts Roadside. It was like Shake Shack in NYC but the burgers were about twice as big, and the milkshake here wins hands down.

Sunday afternoon was spent watching Randi and Rab circle each other in the hotel room as they ‘relaxed’ and collected themselves. Rab managed to lay down for a bit and actually relax. Randi on the other hand – I have to imagine that what she was doing she considers relaxing and go with that. Either way it was interesting to witness.

Sunday evening was probably the best time I had by far I think. Randi, Rab, Dad, and myself drove out to Brian and Allison’s house in Oakland and met Jodie, Paula, Matt, Lauren, and Kalel there. We all just sat around in the living room hanging out. We ate some magical food, and then proceeded to laugh for a good 4 hours give or take. It was this perfect moment in time. Kalel was in a great mood and putting on quite the show – giggling and smiling. At one point the two of us screamed in unison for a good 5 minutes. That’s his new thing – screaming. So we just screamed together. It was amazing.

There were times that I looked around the room and wished with my whole heart that you were there. It wasn’t during the wedding that I had those feelings; it was in that moment. When all the excitement was over, the stress of the weekend was gone, and we were just hanging out.  I watched Rab and Randi interact together and with Kalel and thought to myself, and out loud really, this must have been what the early years of Matt and my childhood were like.  At one point I looked over and Dad was laughing away, in a way I hadn’t seen in a while. Same with Matt. These loud, whole body shaking, laughs. It was magical.

It was the perfect way to end the weekend. 

Love you forever, Miss you always.

Rachel

“…This is the time to remember

Cause it will not last forever.

These are the days to hold onto

Cause we won't although we'll want to.

This is the time, but time is gonna change.

I know we’ve got to move somehow,

But I don't want to lose you now.

Sometimes it's so easy to let a day slip on by

Without even seeing each other at all

But this is the time you'll turn back to and so will I

And those will be the days you can never recall…”

Post mortem anyone? – Part 1

Hi –

I survived the weekend with flying colors if I do say so myself, and I do. So go me.

Rehearsal was on Friday and while the drive was long, the place they chose really was beautiful and I can see why they were so set on it. I would have stayed up there all weekend, and done all the festivities in Napa. But as was my manta for the weekend, not my wedding.

Matt and Lauren did the Ketubah signing during the rehearsal so that was nice to witness. Judaism at work and all. I learned though that it’s the mother of the bride’s duty to be the keeper of the signed Ketubah. I can just add it to my ongoing list of things that won’t happen.

The rehearsal dinner was back at their house where they only have 1 bathroom and were expecting close to 70 people. The only logical conclusion was a bright blue porta potty front and center in front of the house. I think it really added something to the party personally. The party was fun though. Hung out mostly with Jodie and Jamie who were really my buddies all weekend. It was really nice. I’m so glad they were there. I was pretty stoned for the majority of the evening, which led to my explaining to Jamie how I didn’t ‘get’ jetlag. It was pretty awesome.

The highlight of the evening goes to Michael. Jamie, Jodie, and I were sitting in the kitchen, and Jamie had been filling up her Martini glass with beer from my glass that I was just sipping from for most of the night. The bar was outside in the back down some stairs where it was also freezing. Michael comes into the kitchen looking for a glass of regular Coke. He rummaged around the kitchen and found Diet Coke in the fridge, which would do he said. He pulled a glass down from the cabinet, and I gave him a funny look about it. He muttered to me while pointing at Jamie, “if she can drink beer out of a martini glass I can certainly drink diet coke out of a brandy snifter.” He then poured his diet coke and walked away. After he was gone Jodie turned to us and says, “you know what’s funny about this whole thing, that was a red wine glass.”

Next up was the Wedding Day - YAY! I woke up at 7:30 and hit the ground running. I managed to catch a small nap on the bus up to Napa. Well as much of a nap as one can get while sitting straight and not letting their head roll to either side. I had just had my hair did. I couldn’t ruin it.

The ceremony was perfect. I walked Kalel down the aisle and held him for .2 seconds before he started to fuss and then seamlessly passed him to the nanny’s in the front row. Then took him back .2 seconds before Matt and Lauren were announced husband and wife to walk him back up the aisle. Just the way I figured it would end up going.

My shoes lasted about 5 minutes into the cocktail party. That may or may not be a record.  Pretty sure all the bridesmaids had their shoes off or changed by the time the reception started.

There was a moment when the ceremony was over, cocktail party was through, and the reception was at a lull that I first got sad for the day. I figured it was going to come at some point but I was surprised how long it took. I figured it would be while watching Lauren take her family photo’s but I think because I was still worried about the ceremony it didn’t affect me at that moment. I’m sure when I look back through everything and see your missing mug I’ll get sad then too.

Luckily though I had built up a small stockpile of Valium so half a pill later I was in a much better mood and ready to party. And party I did.

I danced, I laughed, I danced again, I led the Hoorah, I wore a glow stick bracelet, and I danced some more. I have 2 signature moves and I strutted them all over the dance floor and back again. It was pretty awesome. I’d be curious to take a poll around the dance floor to see who thought I was serious about my moves, and who realized I was just being awesome. A personal favorite moment was when Diane led the entire dance floor in the electric slide, and it was not to the electric slide song.  It was awesome.

It was a great night and a great party. One you would have been very proud of. I don’t think there was a person there who had a bad time. The end of the evening was only made that much better by watching Matt spiral down into full on drunkenness. If you ask him none of this happened, but if you ask Randi, Rab, Jamie, Dad, or Me it 100% definitely happened. Matt was wandering the grounds with his tux shirt un-tucked, jacket tie and vest off, sleeves unbuttoned, and no shoes but socks on and in what can only be described as bellowing calling for Lauren. It was awesome. Him and I even managed to fit in a game of Egyptian Rat Screw when he was not wandering around. I won, he lost, and he then proceeded to be a very sore loser and storm off.  I thought it was the perfect way to end the evening personally.

Rest of the post mortem to come later.  I’m currently flying back to Orlando and I’m going to try to sleep a bit.

Love you forever, miss you always.
Rachel