Wedding Planner

I was up around 720am and soon downstairs making coffee. It was raining and had been through most of the night. It was warm, too, a whopping 46 degrees. The day’s high was forecasted to reach 50 degrees clearing out and cooling off a tad leading into Sunday.

I quietly enjoyed coffee and internet for the next hour or so before heading out on a run. By the time I did head out the rain had stopped. Because it was so warm, I didn’t need to wear hand and ear covers. I ran the usual weekend route of just three miles. Easy run.

Mindy slept fairly late, at least in according to my definition. She was up about the time I got back. Said she heard me heading out the door for my run a little before she finally got up. We had tentative plans to meet Ashley & Steven for lunch, but no specific time and/or venue picked. After conversing with Mindy I sent Ashley a text suggesting 1230pm. A little bit later I called and suggested Dragon Palace (formerly Ding Ho) – a favorite of ours.

We planned to leave Jacob in charge of Bella. We didn’t expect to be gone all that long. However, shortly after nailing down our plans, Bella came home asking if she could go to the movies with the neighbors to see Hercules. We let her go. We still set the table for her return if indeed we happened to still be out. Jacob asked if a friend could come over before we left. I didn’t say anything to thwart the plan since Mindy agreed, but once in the car I told Mindy that it’s never a good idea to allow the kid in charge (Jacob in this case) to have a friend over when they’re supposed to watching the younger sib. She understood my logic.

We pulled in Dragon Palace about 10 minutes early. I couldn’t help but offer that we change the venue to the casino instead. Sorry we didn’t think of it sooner. We waited in the car for Ashley and Steven to pull up. I planned to suggest the alternative once they did. They arrived right at 1pm. However, I noticed that they had Olivia with them even though I was certain we asked that they come alone. I love Olivia but thought it might be difficult to discuss the wedding plans with her around. We’d make do.

Inside, we were their only customers and very likely the first of the day. Happens to Mindy & I most times we eat there. Because there were five of us, they seated us at a round table. Olivia was very happy to see us and wanted to sit next to me. Of all the grand children, she by far shows me the most love. Landon runs a close 2nd.

Fairly quickly we placed our drink and food orders. Mindy and I went with selections typical of us – fried rice, won-ton soup, and war-su-gai. I was a little surprised that Olivia new her Chinese at least to some extent. I believe she and Ashley ordered general tsos. Can’t recall what Steven ordered.

Maybe 10-15 minutes into lunch I broke the ice relative to the wedding finance discussions. I asked who else, if anyone, were they planning to ask to help with costs. Ashley said they planned to ask Kelly as well as Steven’s father. A few minutes later I shared what I felt comfortable contributing. I offered what I consider a very generous number all things considered.

I offered a little unsolicited, too. My advice was twofold. One, it makes more sense to use the money for a down payment on a house rather than spending it on a wedding. Weddings, after all, are so temporal. Two, try not to over fantasize how the day might unfold, or raise expectations too high, lest you’ll be disappointed. There WILL be dysfunction at the wedding. Mindy seconded the latter. She agreed with the prior, but also understands Ashley desire to have the fairy tale day.

Steven soon shared that he’s afraid to approach his father about money. I can relate. I always feared those discussions with my dad too. Still, I insisted that happen sooner rather than later. Ashley chimed in that she would talk with his step-mom if necessary.

In addition to wedding finance, we probed and discussed ideas for wedding venues and dates. Lastly, Mindy offered her services to help Ashley plan and organize, mindful of course, of her mother Kelly and others who would almost certainly want to have some say in the matter. LOL!

Olivia was such a joy all through lunch. She asked if she could go home with Mindy and I. Without hesitation I said heck yeah! We rarely get time with Olivia by herself. Ashley and Steven planned a run to Target after lunch and said they’d come by around 4pm to get her. Perfect. We needed to be at Jacob’s basketball game by 530pm.

At home, we planned to bake cookies and play Chicken and the Egg. And that’s exactly what we did. Mindy helped a little but also planned a trip to Kohl’s, so by and large, the onus of entertaining Olivia rested squarely on my shoulders. We put some snicker doodle prepackaged cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet and baked ‘em. As soon as Jacob came home from playing outside the three of us played Chicken and the Egg. I was most impressed with Olivia’s reading. She’s reading far and away above her expected level. She’s very bright and precocious! We played two rounds.

Mindy was back home after being gone for about 90 minutes. She bought herself a bag full of clothes. I took a brief nap in the chair while Olivia ran off to play with Bella and the other girls for a while. Ashley showed up near 4pm as planned, too. By then Olivia insisted on staying the night and going to the basketball game with us. Mindy was amenable to the idea and I certainly didn’t mind. Ashley was fine with it. Wished we knew sooner. We could’ve saved her a trip.

We left for Jacob’s game around 445pm. He needed to be there 15 minutes early. Arrived early. And the game preceding his was running behind. We watched 2.5 quarters of it. Jimaken & Molly joined us just before tip-off. Olivia was very cute cheering/hollering for Jacob numerous times. Jacob’s team started uncharacteristically slow but soon got it together. Like most of their games, blew out the other team – doubled their scoring total.

After the game, our plan was simply to head home, maybe watch a movie and relax. I wasn’t interested in partying much if any. I wanted to ski on Sunday and getting an early start sounded really good. At home, I opted to drink only ice water. Very low key night. We watched the NFL playoff game between the Saints and Seahawks. Bella and Olivia played in Bella’s bedroom most of the late evening until Mindy and I headed to bed, which was really early – before 10pm.