Back in May, I wrote a list of all the dates of the events we had scheduled for this summer. In addition to my trip to Texas for most of May and early June, we had six weddings, four bridal showers and three groom’s dinners. This list did not include our wedding anniversary or any of the family birthdays we celebrate during the summer months. As each event took place, I erased the date from the list. Over the course of the summer, a concert and a funeral were added to the list. This morning, I erased the last date from my white board.
Today is Labor Day and the long, fun summer of weddings is over.
On Friday night, Lizzie and Kyle got married.
As with all the weddings this year, this one was unique, great fun and a wonderful reflection of the personalities of the bridal couple. The ceremony took place at a neighborhood church and the reception was over in Dinkytown, the neighborhood of the University of Minnesota’s campus. It was at the Varsity theater, where gophers can catch their favorite bands or comedians when it’s not hosting parties. It’s a very cool venue and totally different from any of the other weddings of the summer.
If we’d sponsored a wedding competition this year, I have to say the contestants made it impossible to choose a winner. The only things any of them had in common were that they featured a bride, a groom and a wonderful time was had by all.
The Pivec family was more heavily represented at Lizzy’s than at Katie’s. It was wonderful to see the Norwesters and desert dwellers. Three generations of Pivecs came from the desert to celebrate last weekend. Josie (now known as ‘Sloppy Jo’ to her Pivec relatives) behaved herself and drank only water all night but Zack (legally) outdid himself. At the end of the evening, he was seen hugging (HUGGING?) everyone and yelling “My favorite cousin!” at, among others, Mike, Andy and Jake. This is not a particularly huggy group but they were hugging on Friday night.
Although the TX Pivecs couldn’t come to Lizzie’s wedding, Ty got a shout out in the Best Man’s speech. He told the crowd that the first Pivec he ever met was Tyler and that 13 year old Ty was probably not the best ambassador the family could have hoped for. I’d love to hear the story of that first meeting; it most likely happened on a neighborhood basketball court.
I didn’t dance much at this one, due to having blown out my knee in my ill advised attempt at getting in shape by running. I did dance once; my son in law asked me, he promised to be careful and Sweet Child o’ Mine was playing so…
I didn’t reinjure myself so no harm, no foul.
Sober Josie drove Katie and Adam home when it was over and I drove myself and Jay. Zack was supposed to come home with us but was last seen wandering down the street with several of his favorite cousins. He was dropped off at home around 10:30 Saturday morning, none the worse for wear.
Saturday was used by me to relax and catch my breath. Sunday, I had to get Josie back to the bus by ten so she and I got up for an early mass. I dropped her at the station and got home to frost the chocolate cherry cake I’d promised Tim I would bring out to his place for dinner; our generation of Pivec’s was meeting at the lake for steak and cake.
Jay and I drove out with the top down on the Saab and the sun never stopped shining on us although we could see storm on the horizon all the way to Lake Francis. We put the top up when we arrived and it’s a good thing. The afternoon was gorgeous and warm and we had a terrific time. Jay spent most of the afternoon fishing off the dock and he caught several large bass. We took pictures and he threw them back. After dinner, Mary Lou took a bunch of us out on the lake in the new pontoon boat. It was out on the water that we caught sight of the giant thunderheads bearing down on us. We continued our tour of the lake and got back to the house ten minutes before the storm caught us. A half hour after being out on the water in the sunshine, it rained so hard we couldn’t see across the lake. So, out came the cards and pennies and the games began.
Not being a card player (only cribbage and gin rummy), I went upstairs where I could watch the rain in peace and work Tim’s Sunday crossword puzzle.
Jay and I headed for home around 9. I was so tired when we got back that I fell sound asleep during an episode of Wiseguy.
It was all wonderful and just as I had feared; the summer had gone by much, much too fast.