Hello 2009

Last night my husband and I covered as much of the good luck gestures as we could. We surrounded ourselves with family (a big group), ate 12 grapes, drank champagne,etc. I've had my blackeyed peas today, mmmmm. My husband and I also did something my sister and I always used to do--He opened the front door to let the New Year IN, and I opened the back door to let the old year OUT. Since I had already had 3 glasses of champagne, tears came into my eyes as I looked out the back door. In the darkness I  could kind of picture letting memories go--memories of  graduations, a wedding, some very fruitful trips on Mexico Missions, and LOTS of family time. It was a really, really good year. A happy one. My father is doing much better; he wasn't supposed to be with us still, and I am so thankful that he is. But I blinked away my tears and looked to the front door--I have high hopes for 2009.

How about you? What is your favorite tradition? What will you carry with you from 2008, and what do you hope to see in 2009?

The poignant wedding entry (what did you expect?)

 Early into the whole wedding-planning insanity, I dreamed that I was talking to 5-year-old Emily. I knew that it was only a dream, so I took the time to stroke her waist-length hair and kiss her little cheek. After a bit she said, "gotta go," and danced away. Yes, of course I cried when I woke up. They always have to go.

The wedding went really well, with a beautiful church and pretty flowers. I was amazed at the family that showed up to cheer us on. The only disadvantage was that I wasn't able to spend any time with anyone! I also loved that Emily and I got to live the fantasy of having an old Victorian home--just for one night. It seemed magical to gather up my skirts and walk up the steps to the huge front door, and to sweep around the upper floor dancing. There was greenery and lights, and more crowds of friends.

I got to give my little girl an extra hug before the first dance--and I was careful to stroke her grown-up hairstyle and kiss her cheek. The music started, and she had to go...and danced away.

This was one of those days

Back when I taught 4th grade, we used to read a book that started out, "Don't you think red-letter days should be marked on the calendar? Like, it should say, 'watch out, this will be a day you will never forget?'" I am paraphrasing. But some day, I will look back and wonder why last Thursday wasn't marked in red on the calendar.

I had lost a friend--everyone at my school had. A co-worker had died suddenly of a stroke. That in itself was hard, but I have learned that sometimes you will just have hard times. But the principal of our school made it worse by choosing that week to catch up on the observations that the district makes her do. My observation went ok because I was busy listening to a small group of readers, and that is what she wants us to be doing. But she walked into a co-worker's room unannounced and caught her reading an e-mail. Holy sh&*. She wrote a blanket e-mail to everyone telling us what all we were doing wrong, and what we should be doing better.

So there we were, with our hearts bleeding for the co-worker, and added on top of that our rooms were trashed because we have painters roaming our building painting the walls. And the boss decides to vent on us.

The good news is, I found a new resolve in myself to get into something new. Something out of the classroom. So, instead of still being angry about the staff being blindsided in the middle of their grief (and I was really pissed), I am rejoicing that God clearly showed me a sign that it was time to move on. I have been kind of blue lately that I have had to put God's call on hold, but now I am ready to step out and listen for more direction. Instead of wondering why that date wasn't outlined in red, or why the calendar didn't say "watch out, this will be a day you will never forget," I am going to take a marker and MARK THAT DATE MYSELF. (Luckily Frank understands and supports this lunacy.) Below is a picture of the commemorative tile they will put up at my school. She was a sweet lady. An ordinary person that worked in extraordinary ways.

wedding notes

And I was expecting to be bored! Skip this entry if wedding details bore you.

I just went to the most beautiful weddIng I have ever attended. I want to repeat
some of the details for emily's. For one thing, the dress code was "black tie
optional" so people were dressed to the teeth. Frank's family was absolutely gorgeous. I had a new black long skirt with gold beading and a black blouse, so I could hold my head up. The women were impeccable down to the coiffed hair and manicured nails. The men had on black suits and ties and new haircuts. To me there is
something adorable about a Hispanic guy with their hair all gelled...(but I digress.) I hope I get a picture of the family. The group of family that came in from Chihuaha was dressed to gorgeous perfection...they had me checking my hair and nails in the mirror.

The blonde bride was gorgeous, with a tiny, perfect 32-22-32 figure. Probably a size one. She had on a simple Mermaid style ivory gown-awesome. She was so nervous, however that you could see the ruffle at her knees trembling.

Frank is pretty much a world traveler so he was never thrown by the formality, and he cleans up real nice. He has an Albert Nipon tie he doesn't get to wear
too often, he was stylin' and profilin' too. But he told me later he was steaming a bit because as we walked in a nice-looking young guy offered me his arm to escort is to our seats. (I intoned, "we're with the grooms family" in my bestmom voice.) Frank said he couldn't believe THE NERVE of the young man when frank had a perfectly good arm! I had to explain that that was an usher, and it was all gringo tradition. They have ushers in the Mexican weddings also, but everyone seats themselves.

After the wedding the bride and groom jumped into a white vintage Rolls Royce, and we all swept down I75 to one of the big buildings downtown. Frank has a new
Sarah Brightman CD, and it made the trip under the cloudless, starry sky
heavenly. The sit-down dinner was up on the 42nd floor, and you could see the twinkling panorama of Dallas out the floor-to-ceiling windows. The chihuahua bunch all sedately sipped champagne until the bride and groom entered with mariachis. Part of the folklorico of mariachi music is that the crowd punctuates the music with enthusiastic "gritos"- heartfelt "ayyyy's" etc. Sarah would have died, but it spurs the musicians into playing their best as they feel the crowd join in. After that, everyone went back to polite sipping and supping. I
explained to Frank that everyone would hold off dancing until after the bride's first dance with her father. They do the ceremonial dance with dad in Mexico also, but it doesn't matter if the guests dance before that.

The DJ played a nice interlude of English and Spanish music, and segued into a great cumbia. Cumbias always clear people out of their seats, so toes started to
tap. Then the DJ said, "que baile, que baile!" (dance, dance!) and the three little flower girls spontaneously joined hands on the dance floor and began to dance. Frank's family couldn't resist-we all jumped up and started to cumbia.
The dance is so infectious that even the Hispanic waitresses kind of crept up to the floor to watch. One of them yelled "con las manos arriba!" (hands in the
air!) because that's part of the grito tradition. The floor was packed with whirling couples (me too-i can cumbia!) and the 96 year old grandpa (American,
from Brooklyn) pushed aside his walker and began to dance too! Then the bride came back from the restroom and looked a little dismayed because her guests had strayed from her scripted plan, so the DJ announced, "and now, we'll proceed with the toasts." so everyone sat down. It was so amazing and so symbolic to me-life is all a dance. The tiny girls began it, we all joined in joyfully, and grandpa joined into the dance until the end. The staid American bunch came over
later and told us how awesome it was that grandpa got a chance to dance again.

And so it goes...

hello, 2008