Heights and Depths

The sun is shining beautifully this morning, which is quite nice of it considering that most mornings this week have started out overcast. Even when it burns off (and it has), there is something a little impertinent about a summer morning starting out grey.

My youngest niece is getting married tomorrow, to a handsome sailor. I have pledged to sing "O Promise Me". (It's a family joke). Except over the weekend my niece Jane Austen and I decided that she's going to sing with me and it's going to be a mashup of "O Promise Me" and "Endless Love". And believe me when I tell you that I wish we'd thought of that sooner because we really would have worked it up, complete with a dance number and it would have been FANTASTIC!

On the downside, my darling Kiki's momma is slipping away very fast. For the record, ovarian cancer is a very cruel and sucky condition and it should be outlawed. Immediately. I got to say my 'goodbyes' yesterday and now am just waiting. Waiting for the phone call. Waiting to help. Waiting. I learned a lot of important things yesterday, which I will maybe share another time. But one of the most profound was this: I have never before been at the bedside of someone who was actively dying. And it came to me with the most gentle clarity that death is preferable to dying. It was a gift and a luxury to have time to say 'goodbye' and 'I love you' and 'thank you for the gift of your daughter'. And I hope everyone who loves Sooz gets there in time to have that gift. But then my only hope is that she will go swiftly. There will be a huge void in the world with her gone and there will be a lot of pieces to pick up and all that. But her sticking around, suffering, is not right. At all.

As usual, any prayers/candles/naked pagan dances you have to offer would be very much appreciated.

It's not yet 7. Who needs another cup of coffee?



Update: Suzanne passed away on Saturday morning, July 24. I'd said a final 'goodbye' to her about an hour before. I'll need to write more on this later but right now am still processing all that has happened and what it means. Rest in peace, Sooz. You are deeply loved.

For Better or For Worse

I've been to a lot of weddings in my time but Ree and Jerry's, on Saturday, lands in the Top Ten of Fantastickness. It wasn't just that it was a beautiful day or a beautiful Mass. It wasn't just that everyone in the wedding party (including The Child) looked terrific. It wasn't just that I didn't lose it and weep all the way through my readings. It wasn't just that the reception was, in the words of Nick Lowe, "an unqualified success" with excellent food and drink, lots of dancing and plenty of karaoke. It wasn't just that the father of the bride (who is an asshat) behaved himself for once or that the bride and groom looked so radiant.

It was all those things and more.

But the best part was simply that we were witness to the vows of a couple who so completely and totally belong together, who model so beautifully what it is to truly love and appreciate the person he or she is with, for good and for ill.

I've known Ree for nearly half of my life. We've been through an awful lot together. I have seen her in other relationships where she was the one who did all the work. I've seen her not in a relationship and felt the pain of being alone it caused her. Ree is one of those people, so full of love, who is meant to share her life with another person. Not just give and give and give to everyone around her (which she does with a self-less generosity) but to be with someone who can give back to her and more, someone who gives in such a way that it gets past the walls she'd built around her heart. (Sometimes, you see, her giving has been a distraction from her loneliness).

The moment we met Jerry we knew the two of them were destined for greatness. We were right. Celebrating all of that with them on Saturday was sheer, unmitigated joy.

Why Blogging May be at a Premium for the Rest of the Month

Please note this list does not include the fact that I will be working, preparing my resume (it's getting to be time to apply to keep my job on a permanent basis), cleaning the house, or, you know, sleeping.

August 19 - Eye appointment, buy school books and finish back-to-school clothes shopping with The Child.

August 20 - Hello? Project Runway is back!

August 21 - 50th birthday bash for The Child's god-mother

August 22 - Dinner with Jane Austen & Mr. Darcy

August 23 - Begin pilgrimage to Forks, Washington in search of all things Twilight

August 24 - Forks

August 25 - Forks

August 26 - Take Child to registration then run back to work to prepare for a big ass tour of D.C. mucky mucks without MAB present

August 27 - Bloody Mary Thursday and Hello? Project Runway.

August 28 - Rehearsal for Big Wedding

August 29 - Ree & Jerry's Big Wedding ("big" in importance, not size - but The Child is in the wedding party so you see how it is)

August 30 - Get my bangs trimmed and recover from Big Wedding

August 31 - Baptism seminar with Kiki's parents

On another note, my 4th blogoversary has come and gone. Whoo hoo.

Oh Promise Me

On Saturday my neice, Jane Austen, got married. Jane was always a princess and on Saturday all I could think about was the little girl who used to love to play dress up. How do they grow up so fast?

The weather was, after 6 months of unmitigated bleak, pefect. The wedding was held outside and it just couldn't have been more beautiful.

It was also very emotional and not just because everyone was so happy for Jane and Mr. Darcy. It was also the first big family do since the death of Mr. Stewart and his absence was palpable; particularly because his youngest daughter, Keira Knightly, is in love and destined for her own wedding in a couple of years and she was clearly thinking that her daddy isn't going to be there to walk her down the aisle. My sister, Martha Stewart, is the bravest woman I know but she too had moments where she just had to remove herself from the festivities. It was very difficult, bless their hearts.

Of all the neicelet weddings so far this was the best, if only because I actually know the groom. We've spent time together and talked and have a relationship. He's delightful and they make a terrible handsome couple.



My sister, Audrey Hepburn, mother of the bride. (She looked way hot).



The Spouse did the video for the wedding. He looked handsome.



My nephew:



Martha Stewart, Moi & Audrey:



The Child, Martha, my neice little Martha and her son, my grand-nephew, Joshua:



The first dance:


Audrey and Mr. Hepburn kept dancing:



Nana and Jane:


Girl cousins:



Moi & Martha



And they all lived happily ever after:

Celebration!

It should be noted that this woman got married this morning:

Congratulations Stacy and Nabil!! May you have many, many years of happiness and as many little children as you wish.

I shall now eat some Jordan almonds in your honor.