Bittersweet

This past weekend was bittersweet for my family. My son and I drove over to So. CA (along with my sister and her son) for a wedding. My cousin got married to a really nice girl. Our family - the extended family - LOVES weddings, it's one of the few times we are all in the same room at the same time. We get to catch up on what has been going on in each other's lives, eat yummy food, drink and dance to our hearts content. It's always lots and lots of fun.

So, with the boys being the troopers that they are, we set off dark and early Friday morning anticipating an uneventful drive over, which it was. We made really great time and ended up stopping at this little outlet mall place in Cabazon. We always say "We should stop there some time" but never do. The shops were closed but it was still nice to be able to stretch our legs a bit. Besides, we were very early for checking into our hotel.

Once we checked in we got in touch with a couple of family members. At the last minute my aunt, the mother of the groom, offered us to join them for rehersal dinner. We declined due to lack of appropriate dress. We didn't want to be the bumpkiss relatives showing up in shorts and t-shirts, lol. Turns out it was a good thing. The bride realized she'd forgotten "something blue". My sister and I took on the challenge of finding something less than 24 hrs before the wedding - at 6:00 pm.

Saturday morning dawned and we rangled our dad and step mother into joining us on one last ditch effort to find the blue thing. Success! As we were wrapping up our shopping trip I got a call from my grandmother on my cell phone. From that moment on the joy of the day was shattered by the news that one of her sisters, Aunt Jenny, passed away early on Saturday morning. I couldn't, and still can't, believe it! How? Why? We still don't know all the answers. All we know is she fell. Her son was there and couldn't catch her, and of course blames himself. No one else does. After all, would it really have made a difference if the cause was a stroke or something like that? No, I don't think so and I hope that he is able to find some peace once some time has passed.

So we hurried back to Grandma's house. We told my son, who was actually enjoying shopping for a change, that we had to go see Great-Grandma, that she was sad and needed hugs. The rest of the morning was spent remenissing about Aunt Jenny, and keeping my Grandmother occupied with other things.

The wedding was beautiful! The bride was radiant, the groom was handsome, the church smelled so wonderful with all the flowers. I think we managed to pull together as a family and make it a happy day for my cousin and his wife. It feels odd to say that...my cousin and his wife...I remember spending summers at my grandparents and playing in the back yard, my cousin irritating my sister because he used to follow her everywhere, lol. Soon enough it will be our kids playing together, irritating each other...