March 2024
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Dad’s Wedding

My Dad got remarried over Memorial Day weekend and I can’t even begin to tell you how happy we all are about it. Pam is pretty much perfect for him, and our whole family just loves her to pieces.

Their wedding was crazy fun, a little rough around the edges (in the best way possible!), and lovely as hell. In short, it was oh so very them. Think beer bottles (donated by the company that makes them, because that’s just how they roll), wrapped in burlap, sporting gerbera daises. A little DIY, a little punk rock, a whole lot of awesome.

A couple hundred of their nearest and dearest got together at the Rockingham Ballroom in New Hampshire to eat BBQ, dance it up to rockabilly music, and wash it all down with Toscanini’s ice cream.

I’d show you pictures, but I only managed to take four decent ones.

And three of them are of my baby.

Because I’m kindof an ass.

Lilian was a social butterfly, making the rounds and snuggling with anyone who wanted to hold her. She’s supposed to be in a developmental phase where she has a higher level of stranger anxiety, but I guess nobody ever bothered to tell her that. I suppose we have daycare to thank for that. And maybe the fact that I never let her read any baby books.

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He turned to his wife and said “let’s go home and make one of these!”

I bought her a fancy dress to wear, but it didn’t show up on time. So then my sister Allison bought her another dress, but she forgot it back home in CT. So, we ended up making a mad dash to Target to look for something presentable.

Because I didn’t think to pack any backup outfits for her.

Because, S-M-R-T.

I threw a whole bunch of stuff into a cart, and we assembled an outfit in our hotel room that ended up being really adorable. “What an adorable little outfit!” people kept saying. To which I kept replying, “Thanks! We bought it at Target an hour ago!”

Because I’m really awesome at accepting compliments.

My sister Allison fed her dinner, which meant that I got to chow down on BBQ with both hands. YUM.

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“I won’t spit up on you auntie, I swear!”

Our plan was to hang out until Lilian seemed like she was getting pretty tired. And then we were maybe going to see if we could wheel her around in her stroller until she fell asleep. And then we were going to stash her stroller somewhere. Probably not in a coat closet, but definitely not on the dance floor. Most likely next to our table, but that’s the beauty of strollers. You can pretty much stash them anywhere.

The beauty of small children is that you can make all sorts of plans, but they generally don’t fall into line with them.

Lilian fell asleep in my aunt’s arms, and I’m pretty sure it made her night.

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She walked up to me and said, “I’ve still got it!”

Well, it made her night if your night could get any better than watching your favorite brother get married. Which is debatable.

At some point, Kristian decided that letting Lilian fall asleep and wake up over and over again was most likely a recipe for disaster. Because, well, it was pretty much a recipe for disaster. So, he drove off to put her to bed in our hotel room. I stayed behind to live it up. Which probably should have entailed consuming an adult beverage (or three) and dancing like an idiot while going “woooo! momma’s night off!”

What it actually entailed was consuming exactly zero adult beverages while whooping it up on the dance floor with my three-year-old niece. Because, when you get a little grownup time for yourself, what you really ought to do is spend it hanging out with a small child who is not quite as small as your own.

For the record, my niece is an awesome dance partner. And we had a blast. I twirled my nephew around a couple of times as well, but he’s getting to that age where he doesn’t think his auntie is the coolest thing ever. Pshaw.

Also for the record, Kristian hates to dance. As in, if he ever makes any vaguely dance-like motions, I immediately take his keys away because he clearly has had far too much to drink. This is not the first wedding where I ended up twirling a small child around so I’d have a dance partner.

My Dad twirled me around a couple of times as well. And the whole family got in on the action when the band ended the night with a rockabilly version of Beat on the Brat. Which they dedicated to him. Which probably says a lot about my family.

(Oh man, I love that song so much).

I stayed up until about midnight or so. Which is so far past my bedtime these days, it’s not even funny. I was hoping that Lilian would sleep in a little after staying up so late, but she was raring to go at 6am. Which is a pretty decent clue as to why I never stay up until midnight anymore.

I let Kristian sleep in, because I guess I’m not a total asshole. Lilian and I went for a swim in the hotel pool. She loves going to the Y, but this was her first taste of what it’s like to have a pool all to yourself. Nobody splashed her in the face, and she could make all sorts of weird noises to her heart’s content and listen to them echo.

I think she’s getting a taste for the hotel life.

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Pam saw this photo and said “let’s hope she doesn’t repeat this performance 18 years from now.”

We finished the weekend off by eating leftover BBQ at my Dad (and now Pam’s) house. The weather was perfect for hanging out in the backyard, and we got to hang out with some folks who were in town for the wedding.

Welcome to the family, Pam. 🙂

2 comments to Dad’s Wedding

  • Congrats to your dad and Pam!!!

    How do kids know that we were up late the night before? It’s a weird sixth sense- mom & dad were up late, must wake up early!

  • It was so much fun to be with all of you to celebrate! I kept thinking that the wedding ceremony and reception weren’t what many would consider conventional by any means, but it was absolutely perfect.

    You didn’t share that you sang beautifully, as did Ivy and Violet.

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