Friday –

I spent the day running around doing errands and such. I picked up my stuff from the dry cleaners, got the oil changed in Ami’s car (which took far too long), read most of Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days by Alastair Reynolds, picked up a wedding gift for Karen and Angelo, and I grabbed lunch at a chain restaurant (Tomato & Basil pizza with a pint of Sam’s Summerfest). I picked up Ami, we went picked up lizard and dog food. Ami dropped me off at home, and she went off to get TEA while I fed the dog and the lizards. The only thing I did in the evening (aside from walking the dog) was taking the dog over to Uncle Dan’s.

Saturday –

The goal was to be on the road by 8 am. We were on the road by 8:10. Ami and I both decided that it was easier to dress for the wedding at home (and try not to get wrinkled for four hundred miles) so, we looked much better than we normally do early on a Saturday. We dropped TEA off at my mom’s, where TEA was really nonchalant about the whole process with a, “Ok, goodbye mommy and daddy”.

We ended up…wait…I ended up making the wrong exit choice and we started the trip going in the wrong direction on the NYS Thruway. Words were had between Ami and me; let us leave it at that. (BTW, everyone knows, if you are in the passenger seat, and you are awake, you are the navigator, right?) I ended up making the time up once we got going in the correct direction on the Thruway. There was light rain until we reached the border of New Jersey. At that point, Ernesto decided that he wanted to introduce himself to Ami and me. Visibility was at about thirty feet, the rain was moving sideways, and there was standing water on I-287 and I-95. This weather lasted until we got to Maryland. I honestly thought about turning around at Trenton. Plus, we needed to keep the AC going at a reasonably high level to A) keep the windows from steaming up and B) keep from pitting out the nice clothes we had on. One consequence of the air conditioner was that my watch conducted the cold from the open vent into my wrist causing an almost carpal tunnel syndrome like feeling, but much worse. It was interesting. I regained full use of my arm on Tuesday morning. One last word about the drive down…Delaware, why would you do road work that brings I-95 to a screeching halt on a holiday weekend? It took twelve minutes to go one mile at one point.

We found the place where the wedding and reception was taking place. As an aside, Brookside Gardens is beautiful and I really think that we are going to go back down just to spend time walking through, enjoying the flora and fauna (a butterfly garden!!). The wedding couldn’t take place outside thanks to Ernesto, so it was moved indoors to a greenhouse and the setting was just perfect. The ceremony, which was performed by friends of Karen, was wonderfully progressive and had both a sense of humor as well as a solemnest appropriate for the occasion. The wedding program had this statement on the back:

We are extremely blessed to have found in each other a partner for life and to be marrying today. Because of how lucky we feel, we are also especially aware of the many Americans in similarly loving and committed relationships who are unable to have the commitments recognized and supported by legal marriage. They and their children are denied the protections, benefits and obligations of marriage simply because the love someone of the same sex. We believe that the exclusion of lesbian and gay women and men from the right to marry is sad and unjust. Therefore, as part of our wedding celebration, we are making a donation to Equality Maryland to assist them in their effort to ensure that one day same-sex couple will enjoy the right to marry as we do today.

That statement, in a nutshell, describes what good people these two are.

The reception was fun, the music was great, and Angelo and Karen were great sports. There was the kissing of a frog, and Angelo as a prince. As I posted earlier, pictures can be found at the link.

We ended up leaving at about 9 so we could put some distance in before it got too late and we had to stop for the night. The drive back was less harrowing, but more annoying. First of all, I am glad that Virginia is for lovers, because it sure as fuck isn’t for drivers. At one point, I was on the busiest interstate on the East Coast and I was going fifty miles per hour in the furthest left lane. It was like that until we got north of Baltimore and through Delaware. My only goal was to get north of the Mason-Dixon Line before we stopped, because I saw Mississippi Burning and I know what happens to northern liberals when they go south of Pennsylvania. Anyway, we got to Trenton, celebrate my thirty second birthday at midnight and we decide that Ami should drive for fifteen minutes or so, allowing my eyes a rest. Ninety minutes later, we are in New York, Ami is done driving, and I am drinking coffee and eating two doughnuts for the final push up the Thruway to home, sweet home. The driving in the Catskills was for crap, water on the road, et cetera and Ami would wake up every fifteen minutes or so, gasp excitedly, and exclaim, “Ned, you are driving too fast!”, before falling right back asleep.
Anyway, we pulled into Albany at about quarter after three, I was able to parallel park (on the third try) and that ends Saturday.

Sunday –

All I wanted to do was sit on my couch, drink good beer and watch the Mets win, but first, the boy and the dog needed to be retrieved. So, after waking up at about 9:30, I showered, called my mom to tell her I was coming, and went to see TEA. He had made me a cake and gotten me a card. The cake was really good too! Mom got me a gift card to the Home Depot. Anyway, TEA and I went home, and the cake and the boy were dropped off. I went to get the dog, dealt with a work related phone call, got the dog, and came home to a well deserved day of sloth. Ami and TEA ran out to the grocery store, because I wanted nibblies for dinner (as an aside, I love nibblies and could make them into any meal). Ami returned with an incredibly bounty, which she was preparing when work called. It only took about ten minutes to fix, and it wasn’t really my problem, but I had to come in anyway, during the middle of my time off, and on my birthday, to deal with the contingency issues. Anyway, by the time I got home, Ami, TEA and I had a little feast, and then some of TEA’s great cake.

Fred called a little while later, saying that he had gotten home and wanted to know if he could come up and grab a beer. We came over; we sat on the back porch, talked, drank beer, walked the dog, drank more beer, and just caught up. It’s good to have him in Albany.

Monday –

Just a lazy morning, with a little bit of tragedy. We found that one of TEA’s hermit crabs had gone to the great jungle in the sky. Pal was no longer with us. We needed to run some quick errands anyway so we asked TEA if he wanted to get a replacement hermit crab, and he asked if he could get two tiny ones to replace Pal, which we agreed to. Anyway, we headed out, I picked up two books at The Book House, Century Rain and Olympos, we picked up propane at Home Depot, a small gas grill at CVS and TEA’s crabs at one of the pet superstores. We then headed up to my mom’s for Labor Day and my “un birthday”. We fed the duck as well (pictures soon). It was a good day.

Tuesday –

Ami had to go back to work, and TEA was going to his new classroom, I, however, to the chance to sleep until 11, read, do some chores around the house, read and eat, nap, read some more, eat dinner, watch Katie Couric’s first broadcast, which prompted Ami to shake her head, and claim that this was a ”Disaster”, and then I went back to reading. I finished Century Rain, started Olympos and decided that I should probably go to bed.

Today –

I woke up at 5:30, faced the day, relaxed and refreshed and came into work. I am looking forward to the fall and to the rest of my life.

Life is pretty good, isn’t it?