What a great weekend

Unfortunately, it hasn't left me much time to write!

In a pleasantly unexpected reversal, I was invited to help out with the rehearsal dinner our friends hosted on Friday night, which another friend was catering for 60-70 people.  So Thursday after work I found myself cutting vegetables and fruit, glancing over a couple recipes I would unexpectedly end up in charge of on Friday, hanging out and being useful where possible - squeezing lemon juice for the trifle, cutting the chicken breasts into tenders.  Oh and sampling some fabulous sangria, which I'd end up serving to the guests on Friday evening.

Friday I took a half day off of work, and after that rather hectic morning there getting a report out that needed to be done, headed back out to our friends' house.  After putting together a grilling glaze (that we actually didn't end up using), I dove into what turned out to be a great black & cannellini bean dip, that was one of the hits of the party.  I also tended the last of the roasted vegetables and helped with getting things gathered together and presented, mopped the kitchen floor while most everyone was out at the rehearsal.

At that point I got dressed for the party and served at the sangria bar throughout the evening while monitoring the soft drinks in the coolers.  It was a grand time, a really wonderful chance to serve a family that has been a great blessing and to participate in a really fabulous young couple's marriage festivities.  Speaking of which, as great as the rehearsal dinner was, the wedding was even more wonderful.  The ceremony itself had fabulous music, a presider who really knows how to draw non-Catholics into even the most theological part of the Mass, and a great gathering of family and friends praying together.  The reception was first rate, in a facility I haven't visited in decades out at the base, with more great food and drink

Today I get to cap the weekend with a visit from a high school friend I haven't seen in over a quarter-century, who is coming to sing with us at Mass since he's in Columbus for the weekend.  We'll then find brunch somewhere.  I can't really say how excited I am to be meeting up with him again.  He played a crucial role in my reconversion so long ago when we unexpectedly met up in Biloxi.

Hopefully after that I'll be able to borrow a lawnmower and fix my half-done front lawn (bent a blade yesterday - actually, I probably started to bend it the last time I used and finished the damage yesterday without enough time to get a new one before the wedding) before going to hear one and possibly two bands this evening, including the sister of the bride's jazzy duo from Chicago.  Her partner in music is a talented guitarist, and the two of them work very well together.