A Long, Hot Four Days, Part I

THURSDAY--The sisters and I threw a party for my parents to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. We held it at the country club, which seemed appropriate, since so much of our family's activities and memories have taken place there. The only ones that didn't make it were BIL3 and the Nephew. His baseball team won the state championship and had to run off to regionals in Washington. I invited Rachel along though, since she loves my family and wants to be adopted.

We sent the grandchildren off to pick up my parents in a limousine, complete with sparkling cider, flowers and pictures. We allowed extra time to get across town through the rush hour traffic, but Clyde, the limo driver, must have taken the side streets. The limo arrived about 20 minutes earlier than anticipated. Which worked out well, since it allowed them to check out the decorations and let each of us officially congratulate them. But it played into Mom's biggest fear.


Dad & Mom, Clyde, the grandchildren


Me and Rachel - Rachel, S2, N2
S2 was in charge of sending out invitations, and failed to add RSVP info, or that presents were not necessary. Mom was afraid that no one would show up. Well, we had well over 100 people show, so that wasn't too bad. There was food, OPEN BAR, pictures, cake, flowers, and alot of hand-shaking and reminiscing.


As the oldest child, it was up to me to give a toast. My sisters were paranoid that I'd be rude or embarrasing, but I actually behaved myself, much to their surprise. Soon after they cut the cake (a replica of their original cake, and yes, it's tilting--we're lucky it didn't melt on us completely!), Rachel and I left. I had to get to a rehearsal that I was already over an hour late for. Which begins the story of the rest of the weekend. TO BE CONTINUED...