TWO WEDDINGS AND NO FUNERAL (thank god!)
Talked to my ma on the phone last night.
Like me, she is a bit of a complainer- e.g., her hospital roommate's visitors talked incessantly and loudly; and... why does she need a weekend "caregiver" now that she is home and how will she keep the caregiver busy doing things, etc. She is a "kick", and I love her...
Anyway, her second inguinal lymphadenectomy for invasive melanoma
went ok...and she seems to bounce back from surgery pretty well for a 94 year old .
Her friend Ricki Stevenson of BLACK PARIS TOURS (great guided tours of Paris from this Stanford historian, emphasizing African and African American currents in past and current Parisian Life) was in Stanford Hospital at the same time.
Ricki, I have heard, came through neurosurgery ok, a benign tumor having been removed adjacent to her brainstem. Whew.
Life, I know, is a very fragile proposition...and I am most grateful to the "beneficent deities" for helping out these special ladies through 'trying times'.
On the home front, here in Crescent City, Catherine and I went to a lovely Catholic wedding at the local Catholic church yesterday noon, with a subsequent wedding feast at our local fairgrounds. The ushers at the church wore Hawaiian shirts...it was a nice touch.
The ISLAND theme was elaborated on at the reception, with drinks being served at thatched
Tiki bars. It worked nicely as a theme.
In the evening, we went to a Lao Buddhist wedding at the local Veterans
Hall. The women wore exquisite silk brocade 'sarongs' ("scenes")...the groom's family paid the bridalprice; the priest sang a sweet litany; both families sat on mats in the middle of the hall, many holding the strings symbolizing a tying together, a knotting; and then a FEAST OF FEASTS was presented, with suckling pigs, spring rolls, sticky rice, and all manner
of Asian Delicacies.
The Groom's family, occidentals, seemingly adapted easily to novel forms for ancient rites.
The Bride's family looked STUNNING in the most colorful, most elegant
silk brocade.
As the alcohol flowed copiously, I partook moderately (a shot of vodka and a beer) and then did my best to join in the moving wedding dance that circled the hall.
Two weddings in one day: we came home tired...and doubly blessed.
posted by chuck @ 5:49 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
Ah. Lovely. Still a little sweetness in the world Chuck?
LJ...you are right- there is still sweetness in the world.
I still have a piece of string around my wrist from the Lao wedding...a remembrance of connectedness.
The sister of the Bride told me to wear it for three days after the wedding, when she tied it around my wrist...as a remembrance, I am doing so.
That sounds like an interesting and fun day of weddings. (I can't even remember the last time someone I knew got married.)
Sending healthy thoughts into the Universe for your mom and her friend...
Leazwell-
Thanks for visiting. The recent pictures on your webpage are awesome...truly...oh yeah, now I remember-- and weren't you and your neighbors visited with a non-Biblical horde of GRASSHOPPERS...BUT, it almost seemed BIBLICAL...right?
Because the BIBLE is epic history writ large, and our daily lives are personal history writ small...did I get that right?
....(because)If I don't get the 'party-line' right, how can I communicate with TRUE believers (joke, hence muffled LOL's)?
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