::
AY TWO::
We were served a wonderful pancake breakfast in the morning. Twelve kids crammed around a wooden table. While we were loading the van yet again Caelah leaned her head into my side and mumbled; "I don't have to go, do I?..." Yes, my sweetheart, you do. There are oceans ahead and many more cousins to play with. I adore my Aunt Jane and found it hard to say goodbye. She has a deep soul, and a very honest tongue. When we arrived the day before she had put her arm around my waist and asked me to take off my sunglasses; "Jo? It is you! If you don't mind me saying so, there is a lot less of you this time. I hardly recognized you." Thank you, Aunt Jane, I think.
We had no trouble over the border and pulled up to our hotel with enough time for a quick change into wedding clothes. When we first opened the door to the van it felt like being whacked across the face with a hot skillet. The heat was intense. {Little did we know but we would perspire 24-7 from here to home}. It occurred to me that I faced a wardrobe dilemma: Cover up? Or cook? In heat such as this one wants to wear as little as possible but for me this would mean painful sunburn. Optimistically, I figured I could begin cultivating the art of staying cool yet protected. . . Who was a kidding? Cool was never an option. So I decided to cover up. The cost: several sweat-marred shirts and a lasting antipathy towards travel in the Southerly direction from May-September.
The wedding ceremony was very short which was convenient for a family full of restless kids. But it was also very small. This only served to highlight by boys' crazy behaviour. In the fifteen minutes it took to give the bride and groom a hug in the receiving line they literally bounced off walls, rolled on the ground, and chased one another in tight circles around people groupings. And I simply didn't have the will nor the energy to put a stop to it. I just hoped for a little grace, and grace is what I got. I overheard one woman say; "Kids will be kids." Indeed.
AY TWO::We were served a wonderful pancake breakfast in the morning. Twelve kids crammed around a wooden table. While we were loading the van yet again Caelah leaned her head into my side and mumbled; "I don't have to go, do I?..." Yes, my sweetheart, you do. There are oceans ahead and many more cousins to play with. I adore my Aunt Jane and found it hard to say goodbye. She has a deep soul, and a very honest tongue. When we arrived the day before she had put her arm around my waist and asked me to take off my sunglasses; "Jo? It is you! If you don't mind me saying so, there is a lot less of you this time. I hardly recognized you." Thank you, Aunt Jane, I think.
We had no trouble over the border and pulled up to our hotel with enough time for a quick change into wedding clothes. When we first opened the door to the van it felt like being whacked across the face with a hot skillet. The heat was intense. {Little did we know but we would perspire 24-7 from here to home}. It occurred to me that I faced a wardrobe dilemma: Cover up? Or cook? In heat such as this one wants to wear as little as possible but for me this would mean painful sunburn. Optimistically, I figured I could begin cultivating the art of staying cool yet protected. . . Who was a kidding? Cool was never an option. So I decided to cover up. The cost: several sweat-marred shirts and a lasting antipathy towards travel in the Southerly direction from May-September.
The wedding ceremony was very short which was convenient for a family full of restless kids. But it was also very small. This only served to highlight by boys' crazy behaviour. In the fifteen minutes it took to give the bride and groom a hug in the receiving line they literally bounced off walls, rolled on the ground, and chased one another in tight circles around people groupings. And I simply didn't have the will nor the energy to put a stop to it. I just hoped for a little grace, and grace is what I got. I overheard one woman say; "Kids will be kids." Indeed.
The reception was held at a golf course with a view. Once the heat subsided we spent a bit of time out on the balcony looking at the lovely eco-disaster of a golf green. We held an impromptu photo shoot out there. I spotted a wedding party gathered on one of the hills. The girls were wearing awful kelly-green dresses. I figure they must resent the bride for making them wear a colour that looks horrible on everyone and everything but a pool table. I bumped into them in the washroom an hour later. Their foreheads were shiny with sweat and their makeup was running down their cheeks. Now they were clover-green and soggy. Poor, girls.
Back inside a kid's table had mercifully been provided. It was mostly well though-out, apart from the bouncy balls which were soon ricocheting past the faces of the wedding party. Annorah spent lots of time under our table. We were hoping she would sleep but she found our shoes too fascinating.
The three brothers didn't get to see much of each other that evening. Evan and Stasia were placed across the room at the front. And Colin was seated way at the back of the room at the "singles" table--as Aidan called it. But once we got back to the hotel, and all were asleep on beds and floors and in closets, Aidan snuck out to hang out in their room.
