Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Martinez!
Pardon me for the two-day delay, Sunday was busy for reasons you’ll read about on the Day Five story and Monday was spent flying home; I just had no energy left by the time I walked through the door. But here’s the belated scoop over the wedding, this trip’s primary purpose.
Saturday evening at St. Paul’s Church, Nancy and Jose became officially married in front of their families and friends. It went down pretty smoothly despite us being a few minutes late; I could’ve sworn the ceremony began at 6 PM, not 530 PM. Our 510 PM arrival didn’t ruin anything terribly critical, most people prefer to seat themselves and my usher duties dovetailed into being a groomsman (same went for Nelson). I still say we would’ve made it if it weren’t for the moron holding up everyone on the turnpike because she didn’t have enough money. The little boy as the ring bearer brought the house down for the Spanish speakers as he stated the obvious during the mass; something about “are they married yet?” Kudos to the priest for having a great sense of humor and rebounding on the wrong letter to the Corinthians getting used for the second reading; does anyone really use that one about wives having to be obedient to their husband’s anymore?
First dance always goes to the new couple.
Then came the reception, everyone’s favorite part of a wedding. Nancy’s parents provided the location courtesy of their retirement community’s clubhouse. With Jose’s family being Puerto Rican, you bet there was dancing and paella. I dig paella but it didn’t diminish the other great dishes offered with the open bar. The siblings gave their speeches to wish the new couple well. Hernan’s bit on the Greeks’ specifics on love was impressive. (How the West became ambiguous with the word is as puzzling as it is irritating.) Nancy’s sister had a nice one on feathers.
Is that AC/DC’s drummer Chris Slade? No, it’s my long lost friend Phil!
The reception was my opportunity to catch up with the people I couldn’t talk to during the mass. We all got together at a table with Phil, Glenn, Becky (Glenn’s fiancee) and Nelson. Meeting Becky for the first time was great; she and Glenn will be marrying next Summer. Somara exchanged New Jersey stories with the future couple. Glenn had some new adventures in tech support with his employer; my favorite was the newsroom that thought it could physically migrate the entire setup a dozen miles and have it running within a five-hour window. Phil was more challenging as he got to tell his side of the Real Chili incident, pretty close to my version except he still defends his claim to being a deadly unarmed fighter. Didn’t matter though, Phil had his stories of my foibles to tell Somara which didn’t bother me. These things happened over 15 years ago, neither of us are the same people. However, I don’t know where he got the memory of my driving being awful. Overcautious? Yes. Stiff? You bet (Paul and Helen say I have the body language of a bus driver). Hitting the curb with my rear tires frequently? I think the hub cabs on my grandmother’s car would have had visible damage of such a thing. No skin off my nose. Bringing up the sarcastic nickname of Captain Happy, I had forgotten that yet I didn’t deny it to Somara when she mentioned it. Phil’s current career with Abbott is going well; couldn’t convince him to transfer to their facilities in Austin so we could play D&D again. He said Abbott doesn’t do research or manufacture anything in Austin. Besides gaming and work, Phil has recently taken up SCUBA diving. He enjoys it so much he recently became a certified instructor. Certainly more impressive than my acquired love of hockey. I brought him up to date on all the people we know from Marquette and GDW. He gave me the scoop on his family and wife (sadly, soon to be ex-wife). Phil was in good spirits over his upcoming divorce, he feels these things happen, no point obsessing on it. Knowing me, I could do it for him. Hopefully, he’ll stay in touch a bit more now that he has a more reliable e-mail address.
The center piece of the reception’s food.
The festivities carried on through the evening to 11 PM. We scored an extra CD/wedding favor for the Silders who couldn’t make it, left the tuxes with Jose since Altamonte Springs was nowhere near our hotel and said our goodbyes. It certainly was a bash to remember. I think Nancy and Jose are going to be a great couple, more on that another time. How they coordinated the bulk of it themselves without going insane will always remain a mystery to me. I tried to convince Jose into choosing Vegas instead yet I think the results of this proved me wrong in a good way.
Somara’s nice dress for the wedding and yours truly in his Express shirt since he couldn’t wear the tux all evening.