AUSTIN, Texas, Mar. 5, 2005 — We have to go to a wedding early this evening. My friend SuRu has to take her car over to the shop and bring mine back. I have to take my aunt to the airport. No big deals, just little commitments that don't seem to leave time for a trip to the gym. It's good to skip a day now and then, right? I get up and shower and dress in jeans. SuRu comes and gets her car and leaves mine and goes to the dealer. She brings me a digital camera of hers so I can try it out. I'm considering buying a new camera. Or even two. One small and one larger with more features. Maybe.

I fool with her camera and my family address label project. My dad comes over with my sister and aunt. I offer food and drink, get no takers, eat some cereal and yogurt myself. We talk about 'family projects.' My sister really wants me to spend time with her but I have no time to myself. I have to make the airport trip and then the wedding is at 5:30. My dad decides to take my sister to Luby's for lunch while I take my aunt to the airport. I drop my aunt off and come back (slowly...there is a funeral procession and then a weekend construction traffic snarl at Lamar and 45th). Forrest and I decide to eat something at Central Market. Which is a mistake. They are slowwww. And although the pizza I have is good, the salad FFP has is nothing except romaine and some dressing and not much of it. And to wait twenty minutes seems unacceptable. Then FFP has to spend five minutes getting a fork! He finally gets some manager who has to look at the utensil display before he agrees there are no forks. Then he asks if Forrest will 'settle for plastic.'

We spend a couple of minutes in the bookstore, not buying anything and go home. I feel weary. I read a little newspaper and doze in my chair in the bedroom, watching some PBS thing I recorded.

We get dressed for the wedding and get there very, very early. That's us. Pathologically punctual. We almost walk into wedding pictures when the bride waves at us on the porch of that American Legion Hall. Their wedding has been hastily moved inside by the rain. The atmosphere is loose. They are having drinks already. We go upstairs and sit on the bride's side (left right?) and wait, reviewing a little program we got from the groom's daughter. Things look disorganized. Has the rain sent this event into a chaos zone? The answer, we find, is 'no.' Because the event in Pineapple Girl's head will unfold no matter what. Somehow from just the two of us in a sea of chairs at 5:15 or so, the chairs fill up, the babies sort of quit crying and the cameras get set up. The groom's daughter announces that cell phones should be silenced. The men come in, line up on the wrong side but that gets corrected. The bridesmaids, maid of honor, matron of honor come in. The junior bridesmaid guides the reluctant flower girl down the aisle. (It is clear that PG has trained her future step-daughter to make things happen.) PG enters on her handsome brother's arm. She looks beautiful but there is no beaded and trained gown you'll never wear again. Rather a jeweled lavender sweater and a simple long skirt. The flower girl reflected this theme in a cute way. This was my first Schulyer encounter and we didn't spend any time together but for some reason when I spoke to her she locked eyes with me in this "you are my friend, aren't you?" way. After that every time I caught her eye she waved at me. Omar did an MC job including amusing banter and introductions and there were readings. The bride and groom said 'vows' which were quite wonderful. The judge married them. And that was it, right on time, they were married. We got some wine and cheese and talked to Jette and her beau. About movies. Then we sat down and talked to some of the wedding party. One gal is in the same business as FFP and we are trying to direct a client of his to her after he retires.

Then there is a buffet. We eat in the noisy room upstairs where the chairs have been put around round tables. We eat with Jette and her beau and hear about his lobbying against legislation to prevent cities from providing free wireless access. They have a full bar and I get some whiskey. We go to the porch (cooler, easier to hear) then we go back upstairs. We corner PG and tell her she is beautiful and go home. We don't know why we got invited. (It was a small affair.) But we are pleased that we were. Who says you can't make friends online?

At home, we space in front of the TV and go to bed exceedingly early.

Things PG did right on the wedding front: (1) eschewed matching dresses and rented tuxes; (2) kept it loose; (3) had an MC to keep it together; (4) spent the bucks on read food and drink; (5) avoided the wedding dress trap; (6) spoke from her heart. It's too bad it rained but that just brought out the trooper in everyone concerned. I always tell people: "At the end of it, you'll probably be married. That's the most important thing."

As we took our leave, PG brought up a bit of an entry in my journal and I was flattered. That she reads it. Another thing PG did is made everyone there feel flattered to be there, I think.

Not much seemed to come of my day. But the wedding was a good social event and I'm glad we went. Not just to see PG get married. But to see and connect with a few other people.

It's kind of hard on me, fitting enough time with my visiting sister (and my aunt these last two days) into my usual social life and my attempt to work on other projects and get some exercise. I hope it isn't too hard on my dad. I'm leaving tomorrow to him, but he has church to take her to as well as a dinner they are invited to. We have a couple of events associated with the upcoming Light: The Holocaust and Humanity project that we don't want to miss and I need a workout. Knowing Dad, he will soldier through until my sister leaves Friday and then be exhausted. Having company is enervating and there are special problems with someone who is disabled.