My Cousin's Wedding: Part Three

At the reception for my cousin's wedding, which was inside the country club, Tiffy and I were assigned to the "Buster" table; each table was named after one of my cousin's many cats, her brother's cats, or her friends' cats. My parents, one of my uncles and his wife, and a photographer also sat with us. Dinner was fine, and the cake was fine, but I was really happy when the music started because apparently my cousin likes hip hop as much as I do. So there I was on the dance floor with the bride and bridesmaids, who were all in their early 20's, and I knew all the songs as well as they did. When I finally sat down (after the requisite dancing of the "Cupid Shuffle"), my mom asked me in surprise how I knew the words to all those songs. I shrugged and said, "They play them on the radio all the time." My only disappointment was when I asked the DJ if he had "Pon de Replay" by Rhianna and he said he did, but he played every song by her BUT that one. Small disappointment, I know, since I LOVE LOVE LOVE the song "Rude Boy." And to be fair, maybe he played it after I left at the early hour of 11:00 pm. (Things went on for at least another two hours, from what I hear.)

The next day we had a picnic in a nearby park, with Danish treats, leftovers from the rehearsal dinner, two kinds of potato salad made by the bride's brother, and Dora the Explorer cupcakes. One of my uncles wore a bright red shirt and bright yellow baseball cap, so he matched the red and yellow plasticware perfectly. Then Tiffy, my parents, and I went to the Lincoln Park Conservatory, got separated while desperately searching for a parking space, admired the tropical blooms, and met up again unexpectedly right outside the conservatory. My parents were staying in Chicago another day, so they headed off to have dinner with other family members. Tiffy and I had sushi and then drove back to her house.

Sunday was Pentecost, and my choir director had begged me to come back because they were singing a Schutz piece he knows I love. Part of my brain must have wanted to, because I woke up very early to get back on the road, but then some other part of my brain must have wanted to keep sleeping, because then I dreamed I drove home and went to Mass, but things kept getting weirder and weirder until I really woke up... and by then Mass was long over, never mind that I was two hours away. It was a hot day, and Tiffy and I lazed around until I headed back to town, arriving just in time for 5:00 evening Mass. (They didn't do the sequence - bummer. But I have only myself to blame, because both my church and the Lutheran one did the sequence.) Then my OTHER choir director had Rich, Kathbert, Cecil Markovitch, the still-single B-Boy, and me over for a delicious dinner made of food he had bought at the Farmer's Market the day before, and we hung out on his pier until the sun was setting and the bugs started to get too bad. Then we went inside and had rhubarb cheesecake. A wonderful weekend!

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