Jim and Jenna

An Irish Wedding Blessing

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
and the rain fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again my friend
May God hold you in the palm of his hand

May God be with you and bless you
May you see your children's children
May you be poor in misfortunes and rich in blessings
May you know nothing but happiness
from this day forward

I may not have the exact wording of the Irish blessing Dan read, when he stood before 270 people to lead a toast as the best man at his brother's wedding...but it's close. Dan had a hard time getting through it without crying. Me too. I'm sure there were tears all around.

Bob and I have watched with awe and admiration all these years as Barb and Dan raised their three wonderful boys. Now here they are - young men looking to college, to marriage, with their whole lives ahead of them. And they are jewels.

Jim and Jenna knew a long time ago that they had found their match. They were glowing. I have no doubt that they will be able to understand the wisdom of this quote:

"Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle." - Amy Bloom

Thanks to Jim and Jenna and their families for throwing a great wedding. A fabulous time was had by all. The reception was held at the recently renovated Rochester Hyatt Regency - very nice. I loved the classic black, white and red the wedding party wore, the flowers, the cake...so elegant.


Did I mention the cake?


I love how weddings bring everyone together. It's such a great way to launch a new family.

We danced. We ate. We laughed. Here are some of my favorite pics...

Jessica mesmerized by the bride and groom's first dance.

You just can't beat kids in formal wear.

But really, you have to see all of them...so here's the link to all the photos.

Conservatives from Texas

This year we lost Molly Ivins to cancer. I've told you before how I feel about Molly, the great never-to-be-forgotten columnist from Texas.

Molly once said, referring to George W.:

"Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention."

Molly isn't around to write to us about the dangers of current Texans, but others are. Dorothy sends this link from blogger Sara Robinson. It's worth a read. Here's a clip:

Molly, with her usual insight, laid out the essential struggle we're having with Paul. As a libertarian leftist, I understand viscerally the charm of Paul's message. Who wouldn't be charmed? He's anti-war, anti-torture, anti-drug war, and anti-corporation -- a real progressive dream date. Until you reflect on the fact that he's also anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-environment, anti-sane immigration policy, and apparently, anti-separation of church and state as well. >More

Ron Paul himself says he's more conservative than any current Republican. Is that really what we want?

Word is that Ron Paul will appear on The Colbert Report June 13th. I'll be tuning in.

For now, it seems Ron Paul is gaining momentum because he's actually speaking plain truth about Iraq, instead of being political. Unlike the Democrats, as Bill Maher points out...

Ron Paul

Marty sent me this. What do people know about him? I found myself agreeing with him across the board. Check it out.

The minivan moment

If you have a family, you experience this moment eventually. Those of us who are lucky enough to overcome our pride, breakdown and get one. Those of you who don't...the rest of us know the truth. You secretly wish you had one.

Charlie and Donna are at their moment. Here is Charlie's mea culpa:

To all of those who,

Listened to me childishly make brash statements beginning with "I will never..."

Smiled knowlingly as I declared, "Not as long as....."

Reserved the years of knowledge as I offered, "I will bet you, (insert dollar figure here)...."

Yes, to all of you, I must now admit that your years of knowledge and wisdom on family planning, adulthood, and maturity far surpassed mine.

I have now reached the point in my life, where with full pride intact, I can admit to all family and friends, that I was fooled and wrong for years.

To all of you, with your "I told you so's" waiting in queue, I can proudly declare last night, we brought home our....

MINI-VAN!!!

* Please see picture attached for full verification.

Charlie.

Good job, Charlie. Welcome to the Club.

Our 2000 Honda Odyssey has taken us on many a road trip and camping trip. It has shuttled inumerable birthday parties, scout troops, day trips and out of town visitors.

All summer long there are bathing suits, beach towels, sand toys and beach chairs in the way-back ready for fast deployment. We have hauled 7 years of leaves and piles of junk to the dump in it. We have packed it so full with camping gear and bikes, that people have actually pulled us over because they thought we were in danger. We have lashed our kayak to the roof rack and taken it all over the Adirondacks and the North Shore.

We have hauled huge pieces of furniture, appliances and construction materials in it. And I shudder to think how many grocery, mall and Target runs we've done in these 7 years.

A minivan is a marvel of family function.

If you have 2 kids, they each get their own row. This is key.

There are 8 cupholders. And oddly enough, you'll wish you had more.

The well in the way-back is the entire reason you should spend the extra dough on the Odyssey. It means you can pack even more stuff in, and what's more, your grocery bags never tip over.

Look closely at the picture of our minivan. The running board is coming off. The center console cupholder (the one you use every day) is busted. And while the engine still runs great (We've never had an issue with it.), it's showing it's age and it's getting tired.

So here we are, with our kids now 11 and 14, facing another moment.

The second minivan moment.

Will we take the plunge?

Before

Before you speak, listen
Before you write, think
Before you spend, earn
Before you invest, investigate
Before you criticize, wait
Before you pray, forgive
Before you quit, try
Before you retire, save
Before you die, give.

- Arthur Ward

Good one. Got any inspirational quotes that you go by?

Summer is here

Cookouts on our deck. Margaritas in the pitcher.

Cookouts on Dan & Julie's deck.

Robin and Ian and their little patriot....

...I mean pirate.

Boys and their toys

Doggie Day Care

Remember? First we said we would never get a dog. And now here we are using dog SERVICES.
Here's Brownie going to Doggie Day Camp for the day. They actually pick up the dog at your house in the morning and drop him off at the end of the day. It's a valet kind of thing.

We did it because the people that run the camp will take care of Brownie when we go to Jim and Jenna's wedding in a few weeks, and they wanted to get to know him.

Later that day when they dropped him off, the car was filled with barking dogs. Brownie bolted out of the car and high-tailed it in the house. I've never seen a dog so glad to get home. He must have thought we sold him off to the gypsies or something.

They actually gave me a written note about Brownie's day, just like you get when your kid goes to preschool. Here's an excerpt:

Today's Activities:
Catch, Tug of War, Wall ball, Agility Class, Wrestling, etc.

Brownie had a pretty good first day. He's comfortable around all the dogs but hasn't found a buddies to play with yet. Mostly just observing and a little shy. A real sweetie!

Oh. My. God.

Shoes for Moms

We had a fabulous time on the third annual Mother's Day shoe shopping trip. Caitlin gets the award because she flew in on the red eye just to make the event.

We've got it down to a science now. We start with the discount racks and then move on to the main rows o' shoes. After we fill up the giant mesh bags with shoes, we gather in a circle and evaluate, tossing out ones that duplicate or don't work and sometimes adding new ones in.

Some of my favorite quotes during this process...

"That shoe is very slimming. It's a slenderizer!"
"That duplicates animals, or at least continents. But even though it's a duplicate, I think you should still get it."
"Doesn't it look great? Too bad it's incredibly painful."

Before shoe shopping Bob and the boys were so sweet and gave me great cards, chocolates presents and breakfast.

No one's saying how many shoes were purchased.

Spring

There's a week in early May when I wake up and look out my bedroom window and see this flowering crabapple tree.

What a nice way to wake up.

Spring is busting out all over.