Approaching THE DAY

Shenanigans continued back at The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory. There were often people who drank a little (or a lot) too much. One night, someone discovered that all was not well in men’s bathroom. There was a guy in there who had smashed one of the sinks completely off. 

Apparently, he had dropped his ring down the drain and in his drunken state, the only solution he could think of was breaking everything in the way of getting to his ring. He did get the ring but he also got detained until the police came to take him away.

The wedding drew near and I bought my ticket. Cherilyn was also coming to the wedding so we were going to travel together. Morehead City is kinda in the middle of nowhere so there is no major airport nearby. There was a guy that they had gotten to know in Morehead City whose brother lived near Philadelphia and he agreed to drive us down. We found a special deal into Philadelphia

That was one of the craziest drives of my life. Most of the drive down was on Interstate 95 but I think he thought that the signs for highway 95 were the speed limit signs because it felt like that's how fast he kept going. Fortunately, we made it without incident, even a speeding ticket. In fact, we got there so fast that we surprised Laura. We weren’t supposed to get there until the next day.

I got there about a week before the wedding so it was all pretty much planned out by then. There were a few details still to be decided and Laura asked me my opinion. One was about having balloons for the reception. They were a cheaper way to decorate and she thought they would make the wedding more festive. I was of the opinion that a wedding should be a more sober affair so I expressed my preference for no balloons.

Well, this was one of those occasions when a, “Whatever you want, honey” would have been the best response. I wasn’t paying for anything, I had done nothing to help so far and, in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t really matter to me. When a woman is planning her wedding, it is not the most relaxed period of her life. Any contradiction is not helpful. My opinion was not only not appreciated, it also created more tension. We did not, however, have balloons.

People began to arrive for the wedding. My mom flew in from Hawaii. My brother, Samuel was going to be my best man so he also flew in from Hawaii where he lived on a different island. My brother-from-another-mother, Ron Musch was going to be one of my groomsmen as well as Tom Giglio, my good friend and help-get-me-back-to-London-when-I-don’t-have-the-money collaborator from New Jersey. 

Another person from my extended family came who turned out to be a very special visitor for the ship community. My dad’s brother, Ronnie, who lived in New Zealand had taken his family to my sister’s wedding in Hong Kong and sent his wife and daughter to my brother’s wedding in Hawaii. This time he just came by himself on a journey that took 40 hours. Everyone who had known my dad was taken aback because they thought my uncle looked and sounded so much like him. Since my father had been so beloved by the people on the ship, his visit was very poignant.

Laura’s family also arrived. Her mom had been there for a little while already, helping to plan everything. Now everyone else arrived and got ensconced into their beach house. Laura’s younger sister, Carolyn was going to be her maid of honor and her best friend, Robyn and her older sister, Diana were going to be the other bridesmaids. Diana was very pregnant with their fourth daughter. There were also five flower girls, Diana’s three girls and two of Laura’s preschool students.

We had a little bit of an incident when we picked up the tuxes for the groomsmen. My brother and I were rather naïve in the ways of wedding protocol. When I was in his wedding I, of course, didn’t have much money so he paid for my tux. I had discovered during the proceedings, however, that groomsmen pay for their own tuxes (nice way to stick a man when he’s doing you a favor). But Samuel hadn’t stumbled upon that discovery yet. He had just spent a lot of money to get there so he didn’t have much either. So when we all went to pick up the tuxes, he just expected me to pay. 

It was a bit of an awkward moment. Laura was there and the other groomsmen. Samuel was twisting a bit but I didn’t have much money either. I couldn’t just blow it off by agreeing to pay for all the tuxes but somehow I managed to let Samuel know that I would take care of it without offending the others.  

Cherilyn and I messing around on the way to the wedding


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