Bearshorty's musings

We actually managed to leave Bear’s house by 10pm as we planned. I didn’t sleep well, my phone battery decided that 5am is a great time for it to run out and start beeping plus palpitations didn’t help. But I was determined to have a good day nonetheless, and after a nice breakfast off we went.

We printed out direction and had a GPS navigation too and for the most part it was a smooth trip with little traffic and we make it into Boston by 3:30 with a few stops along the way. At around noon we met up with my parents at a rest stop where they gave us a cooler with turkey sandwiches. Bear still bought a grilled chicken sandwich for more food but I just ate the turkey sandwich and some fresh vegetables. It was a fun trip, we alternated CDs and we listened to Orson Wells’ “War of the Worlds” recording – that was interesting but a bit outdated. Still, I can understand why it caused panic at the time.

Uncle Lenya met us at his apartment (his niece was the bride) where my parents and Bear and I were staying and we unloaded, figured out parking and changed into fancy clothes. I had my black skirt suit and Bear had a suit with a blue shirt (that we actually ironed the night before) and a tie. Along with his new haircut he looked spiffy. Then we drove about 15 minutes to Aunt Sonya’s apartment (mother of the bride and Uncle Lenya’s sister). She was my grandfather’s first cousin. She had a whole table prepared for us even as she knew we were headed for a restaurant with lots and lots of food. Bear had a bit of appetizer there; she was happy to feed. Mama convinced to go to the reception with us (she wasn’t sure if she wanted to go, how she was feeling, she and her daughter have a complicated relationship). Then we were off. After a bit of figuring out the parking we were ready for the restaurant. It was called “Café St. Petersburg” and there were two small parties in the hall, ours and a birthday, and we shared the DJ. It was nice size and lots of fun. We congratulated Inna (the bride) and met her new step-daughter Rebecca and later we met the groom Aaron. Mostly the guests were from the bride’s side. This is a second marriage for both, so the reception wasn’t elaborate but the food was excellent and it was good to see some of my relatives. Bear and I danced many slow dances and I even roped him into group Jewish dances one dances to at parties. I wasn’t feeling that great in the beginning, my head was a bit heavy, but dancing helped (I did have to stop too vigorous dancing once my chest got a bit uncomfortable since I did have palpitations all day). By the end of the night I felt much better. Inna and Aaron had a slide show of their genealogy and family with fun photos. Aaron’s family came to America more than 100 years ago from Belarus, so there is some connection. I was roped into translating occasionally. We got home after 1:30 in the morning and went to sleep at two. Fun day, and I’m glad we went.