I’m Back…What Do You Mean You Didn’t Notice I Was Gone?

Well, as promised, I’m back.  In my last post, I apologized for getting lazy with my blogging and told people to stop nagging me, which prompted the question from my son, Brian, “Wow, Mom, are people really pressuring you to get back to work?  I didn’t realize your fans hung on your every word.”  Wise guy.  Okay, I admit, no one was nagging me, except myself.  I’m sure no one noticed that I hadn’t written anything in a while.  Ouch.  But, truth be told, I’m aware, understand and fully accept the fact that people have lives that do NOT revolve around me and my fragile ego.  Now that I’ve addressed the elephant in the room, let’s get back to me.

I did take a bit of a hiatus over the summer.  It was a busy one for me.  Every year, as spring comes to a close and summer is just around the corner, I fall victim to a recurrent fantasy of spending the coming warm months sitting on my patio, enjoying our beautiful yard while sipping a glass of Pinot Grigio or perhaps a margarita.  I’m not sure why I think that will ever happen, as it has NEVER happened in past summers.  Must be the amnesia effect winter has on me.  Well, it’s a nice visual, anyway.  But, no, this summer was filled with the usual scheduling of music camps for my daughter, Mary Kate, one of which was a percussion camp held at the University of Iowa and the other, a Jazz/Big Band program at Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, WI.  Both were fantastic experiences for her, the latter providing us our usual get-away to Egg Harbor, WI.  So that, on top of helping to get my husband’s parents townhouse ready to sell, getting my son, Peter, ready to move into an apartment at school and sharing the excitement of Brian as he prepared to begin graduate school kept me pretty occupied.  But, the whopper event on the schedule was my son, Mike’s, wedding.   He was just married this past weekend, Saturday, Sept. 8th, which was an absolutely magnificent day.  His bride and my daughter-in-law, Laura, is a dream – beautiful, sweet, smart, thoughtful, and completely welcomed into our family, especially for Mary Kate, who has longed for a sister for as long as she could whine.

Our house was surprisingly calm on the big day.  I think one reason was because everyone basically had a uniform to wear, so there were no issues regarding dress.  In the past, whenever we’ve had to attend an event requiring dressing up, inevitably my husband would take one look at the boys and say, “Seriously?  This is the shirt you’re going to wear?  Look at that collar.  Go in my closet and get a shirt.  Are those the only shoes you have?  Don’t you own a black belt?”  Etc, etc…  This day, though, all the guess-work was taken out of dressing.  And, everyone looked fantastic.  Mary Kate had her hair done beautifully and together she and I had our make-up professionally applied, something I’d never done before and quite honestly, don’t think I’ll ever do again.  The girl actually did a pretty good job of trying to gussy up my old face and hide the wrinkles, but I felt a bit like Elvira the Vampire  when I left and couldn’t wait to get home to soften it up a bit.  The church was beautiful, the reception was perfect in every way.  Our photographer and DJ were amazing.  I was astounded by the staggering amount of work and tireless efforts of these professionals.  A million thanks to them.  The food was delicious.  Yes, it was a truly perfect day from start to finish.  But, that said, I’m glad it’s over.  And I know I’m not the only one.  Since both the bride and groom recently started new jobs, they decided to escape for a quick get-away to Lake Geneva, WI for a few days.  So on the day of the wedding, as Mike nervously paced, I kept reminding him that in a few short hours, he’d be enjoying a beer and relaxing with Laura at Champ’s Sports Bar and Grill, watching the Bears game.  Before you go feeling sorry for Laura, this is something she’s come to accept about Mike – his passion for all things sports.  However, he’s learned to enjoy her shows, as well, and has been known to text me or his sister recapping the drama of The Real Housewives of OC or Million Dollar Listing LA.  So, it seems they’re off to a good start.

Now that my life is back to normal, I plan  to return to my blogging on a regular basis.  Oh, and for those of you who may remember a previous post about the Mother of the Groom (Truth Now: Is A Sparkly Tiara Too Much? 01/17/12), you’ll be happy to know that I did not sport the blingy headpiece nor did I wear a short red mini skirt to the wedding.  I know Mike was.