Recent Holidays

"The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example." ~Benjamin Disraeli

So much has been going on, but I haven't had time to post. I'm not going to post about everything, I'll just focus on two most recent holidays and their accompanying celebrations.

First of all was Mother's Day. I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a step mother. My beautiful step-daughter made me the sweetest card [I feel like such a mom because I have this hand-made Mother's Day card proudly displayed in my office] and she bought me this beautiful gift of Mango Pomegranite lotion. At this point, I'd been a step-mother for a little over a week. I didn't expect anything, so I was practically moved to tears for these gestures. Mother's Day was spent picnicing in Silver Lake with P, the kids, their mom, her boyfriend, P's mom, P's sister, and her husband. The whole family was there and it was great. The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, and just knowing that the extended family can get along so well also made me feel quite teary. I'm quite a mush about all of this, but I'm really so grateful for how seemlessly I've been able to blend into the family.

The other thing I want to blog about was the great Memorial Day BBQ we celebrated yesterday. P and I hosted about 24 mates for some chook on the barbie. (That's "chicken on the barbecue" for you non-Aussies). We also had burgers and other tasty things. Again, perfect weather, delicious food, wonderful people and great times. And since I wasn't feeling very well at the end of the night, my delightful and wonderful husband cleaned up everything all by himself. How did I get so lucky?

Porgy & Bess

"Got to keep agoin' like de flowin' of a song.
Oh, I can't sit down
Guess I'll take my honey an' her sunny smile along.
Today I is gay an' I's free
Jes' abubblin', nothin'troublin' me."
-From "Oh I Can't Sit Down" Porgy & Bess

Last night P., B., R. and I (namely my new husband, sister-in-law and mother-in-law) went to the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion to see Porgy & Bess. The show was wonderful. I'd of course heard many of the songs before, but didn't know the story line or that it was an opera of sorts. I was very impressed by the depths of the portrayals and the singing. Fantastic show, fantastic time. And it's always nice to do the cultural thing in this city. LA is actually rife with it, but you have to work a little hard at getting to it sometimes.

Pictures Are Worth 1000 Words

"There is no more lovely, friendly and charming relationship, communion or company than a good marriage."
Martin Luther


Walking Down the Aisle with Dad (I think it was just about this time when the Commissioner pulled out the boom box)


Just Married!


The Whole Family (Picture Taken by Commissioner)


Toasting at Duke's

I'm married!!!

"Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies."
Aristotle

I got hitched on Friday. P and I are having our large bells & whistles ceremony in Spain on June 24, but we needed to get civilly married in the US (too much hassle to do it in Spain). My parents were here from Spain, P's mom was here from Sydney so this was the perfect time.

We scheduled an appointment at 3:00 at LAX Courthouse. I was not expecting much to happen at this airport adjacent locale. I half expected that a brusque and officious bureaucrat would call us up to the counter, check our IDs, ensure that we really did intend to get married, get us and our witness to sign the form and we would be out of there in 5 minutes.

Boy were we pleasantly surprised!!! LAX Courthouse had a chapel. It was very Vegas. You walked in and at the end of a short aisle flanked by 12 chairs in neat rows of two, there was an arch covered in faux flowers. A faux wedding cake was on the artfully decorated table at the entrance. A cute 70-90 year old Commissioner in her black judge's robe greeted us at the door. She was about 4 foot 5, wrinkled as a raisin, and cute as a button. Her large smile lit up her tan face and after she warmly greeted everyone who was at the wedding, she patted her large blonde-white bun and headed to the front. It was utterly delightful.

I grabbed my dad and asked if he wanted to walk me down the aisle. He readily agreed. "Hold on!!" yelled the commissioner. She pulled out a small boom box from behind the podium, pressed Play and the Wedding March started blaring. My dad took my arm in his and walked me down the aisle to my waiting groom. "Who brings this woman to take this man in holy matrimony?" "I do," said my dad and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

The commissioner then invited everyone to stand behind her for better pictures and everyone filed behind her. Only my brother and sister-in-law stayed seated. Everyone else went behind her. They smiled lovingly upon us and took many pictures or videotaped as the commissioner began her lovely sermon about love and commitment and the responsabilities of marriage. We exchanged vows. Then Teo, our ring bearer, delivered a ring. Finally she pronounced us husband and wife and we kissed. It was lovely.

Afterwards we took many pictures. The commissioner even took one for us -- carefully arranging us and making sure everyone appeared in the photo. The 5 minute ceremony I expected was actually a half an hour. It was absolutely lovely and the whole thing was a delight.

Afterwards the whole family went to Duke's in Malibu for some delicious ocean-front dining. I couldn't have planned a more perfect day.

Pictures coming soon.