Goodbye, David! A Wedding and a Farewell...

Jon did make it home Thursday night to celebrate his (46th!) birthday with us in Colfax. As you can see, four of the six kids were present. Emma helped bake and decorate this LOVELY cake. We all helped him eat it.

But now the weekend's over, and the house seems emptier today. It is emptier today. Jon's back to work in Crivitz, and there's no tall, lanky David here anymore... walking back and forth, with occasional stops at the refrigerator, deep in his thoughts.

It was nice having David around... I really felt like I got to know him this summer. But he's no doubt glad to get back to his friends, girlfriend, and the comforts of home (including satellite TV, which he went without here for six weeks). Still, for a seventeen year-old, he adapted remarkably well to our quiet routine and arguably dull lifestyle. He patiently fielded Michael's questions, conversations, and requests to play chess. He tolerated Emma's tendency to belt out songs in the morning, when he was still in bed, and didn't complain (much) about the little neighbor girls who hung around our house like adopted children.

He didn't seem phased that his bed was an air mattress in our family room, or that we didn't have a proper closet for him. He gladly ate whatever I cooked but was also content to eat bowls of cereal if nothing else was available. He stacked firewood and did chores when asked.

Sometimes, when I was busy in the kitchen and Leila started to fuss, David would pick her up and walk around with her. She always stopped crying, for David.

We made it to Cornell one more time, on Friday. David was able to have another visit with his grandparents and we all had lunch together. Then the younger kids and I said our goodbyes to David and left for Rhinelander. David stayed with his grandparents until Jon got done with work that afternoon and could pick him up.

It felt strange to be gone for his last night here, but I wanted us to attend my cousin Jenny Bayer's wedding in Merrill. Also my brother Don's family (they're the ones from Arkansas) was there, so I wanted to see them again.

Anyway, Jon and Jonathan kept David company on his last night in Wisconsin, and it was kind of neat they got to spend some "guy" time together. They took David bowling, had supper at Mike's Smokehouse, and shared a pitcher of beer at The Joynt.

The following day, Jon drove David to the airport and helped him catch his flight to Charleston.

Meanwhile, the kids and I went to Rhinelander. Don's family had already been staying at Mom and Dad's for about a week. Here's a picture of the kids in their wedding clothes... of about eight pictures I tried to take of them all dressed up, this one turned out the best. It's not easy to photograph squirmy children in various states of crankiness.

The bride, Jennifer, is the only daughter of Mom's youngest brother, Dave. Uncle Dave was always very nice to me when I was a little girl; he made a big deal out of me and went out of his way to do special things with all of us kids. I remember fishing with him and being so excited because we caught all kinds of little sunfish. I remember going for a long walk in the woods by our house, on paper mill land. I remember watching Fat Albert and Bugs Bunny with him. He even took us to one of the Star Wars movies-- the one where Luke finds out that Darth Vader is his father (I shed a few tears, sitting next to Uncle Dave in the dark theater, during that final death scene).

So anyhow, because Uncle Dave was always so nice to me, when he had his daughter Jenny I made a big deal out of her, too. I thought she looked like an Indian princess, with Uncle Dave's warm brown eyes and the shiny dark hair that seemed to pick up on Mary Pat's native American heritage. Whenever we'd go over and visit, her and I would play or she would sit on my lap. I'm not sure of the exact age difference between us, but I was a teenager when she was a little girl.

Over the years we've kind of lost contact, and I'm sorry for that. But I was very glad to see her again as a beautiful bride, looking very serene and sweet.

Pictured above: Uncle Dave with wife Mary Pat and son Josh.

The wedding was intimate and personal and, like our own wedding in the park 13 years ago, very brief. Guests sat in lawn chairs and were able to watch as a proud Uncle Dave walked Jenny across a foot bridge to the site where the wedding took place. A lady minister, who is good friends with Jenny, led the ceremony.

Uh-oh, Don and Hope. Kenny caught the garter.

My mom's other living brother, Don, was also there. Here Don is heading up a table with his family. He has three sons who we used to see quite a bit when we were younger: Joel, Jesse, and Jerod. The youngest son, Jerod, is married and has now given Uncle Don his first grandchild, a girl named Bella. You can see two of my cousins in this photo... Jerod's in the green striped shirt and Joel is sitting across from him in gray.

Dinner was nice-- guests could sit where they wanted, so my mom, brothers, and I were able to all sit at one table with our families. One of our servers was very nice to the kids, giving them lots of special attention and bringing them kiddie cocktails, etc. She came back at least three times to check on us. We found out later she was the owner of the restaurant, and were very impressed with her graciousness.

Emma had a hard time waiting for the dance to start. Here's Mom dancing with her grandchildren.

Another highlight from the weekend was having fresh salad with some of Mom's garden vegetables. Emma and Beth helped Grandma pick peas and beans. Kenny assisted with the onion washing.

Brothers John and Bob were also in Rhinelander this weekend. John helped Dad paint the house-- he wasn't able to finish in one weekend, of course, but was able to do the most tricky part, which involved standing on scaffolding.

So all in all, a very good weekend.