Day Seventy-four: Screen door walking and other tales

After scrambling to do some last minute house straightening (I didn't get to any repeat cleaning, whether needed or not.), I raced off to pick my parents up at the airport. I ran late, the plane ran late, so, I only had to circle the airport three times.

We raced back to my house in Pacifica in time to let them see my son heading off for Sacramento. He was literally pulling out of the drive when we drove in. Thank goodness we live back on a flag lot with another house so in these situations we have another drive to switch to. After a quick stop to allow grandparent - grandson hugs, we went on in, had lunch, I packed, and then raced back out, this time to Davis and ultimately on to Sacramento.

Most notable about the trip to Davis was the traffic. Most notable about the trip to essentially North Sacramento, was the even worse traffic. The only good thing about the traffic was that however late we were, the wedding party was even later, due to the traffic. This also is something I'm taking for a sign: No matter what the impediment, I'm going to reach my Life-after-Layoff destination. It won't even deter me from my plans to do long road trips.

There was also construction, which may have been a small part of the traffic problem. But it's primary effect was that I couldn't turn left where my Prius guidance system directed me to do so. The second missed left was simply because I missed it. After driving almost around the block I finally made the third left.

There we were, my parents, my daughters and their spouses, in my future daughter-in-law's parent's house without anyone from her family present. (They had to be at the rehearsal.) I've been to some very interesting Rehearsal Dinners, but this one has to be the way to go. All Rehearsal Dinners should be this easy:

Son-in-law manned the grill,
Daughters bought and fixed the food,
Oldest daughter planned everything,
Bride's family supplied the place, wine, ..., and
I didn't have to drive back to my youngest daughter and son-in-law's house, where we were staying for free, which meant that I could drink the great beer and excellent wine.

It was after my second glass of wine, which was after my second beer, that I remembered to designate a "designated driver," my youngest daughter. Her husband immediately took her wine glass and poured its contents into his. She made a face but took it all and drove very well.

They also cleaned up.

Now for the screen door walking: It was that perfect twilight with the limited outdoor lighting just beginning to take effect and spread that romantic pre-wedding glow over everything, when nature called my youngest son-in-law into the house to visit the facilities. By the time he came out, which wasn't all that long of time, it was natural that he would think that it had gotten darker. So, he didn't notice that it was extra dark because of the screen door barrier between the inside and the outside. He also found out that he couldn't really walk through a screen door. What he could do was pop it completely out of its tracks. Thank goodness he is quite the handyman. He was able to put it back in place looking like it was fully fixed. Later when the mother of the bride and community property owner of the house knocked it completely out of its tracks, it would look like it was a condition rather than a partial repair.

Whether it was the wine or the good spirit because of the occasion, no one seemed to mind the screen door and everyone had a very good time. I know I did. I enjoyed the conversations, the food, the beer, and the wine.

One final note: I went "cowboy" for the Rehearsal Dinner. By this, I mean I wore my cowboy, Lucchese, boots and my real Idaho purchase cowboy hat. I dumped the hat back in the car once it became dark but I had fun wearing it until then.