I was back down at the Ralston’s this morning working on that server trying to get it up and running. It didn’t take too long before we figured out that Radio Shack had mislabeled a part and that I needed to run back up there and get the right one. Argh. So I drove over to Geneseo.
After getting what I needed at Radio Shack I ran into Olympia Sports knowing that Rachael had to have the shift off today because of the wedding and ta da, there was Mary. It is funny how Mary and I manage to find each other or run into each other, normally in Geneseo, year after year. She was pretty surprised to see me. We only had a few minutes to chat. Now it will be another year before I see her again, at least.
Back to the Ralstons’ but there was not enough time to get the cable built and tested. Art is going to do that later and I will work on it remotely. We have everything that we need now so it will be fine.
I ran up to the house and we were out the door for the wedding by eleven thirty. It was a busy morning.
We got down to the church plenty early. We have to be there early because Liesl is in the wedding. She is the flower girl, a critical role. I am also in charge of pausing the music between the processional and the recessional. Playing second fiddle to my daughter, again.
The service was very nice and Liesl did an excellent job. All of the little kids were so cute. After they were done with their jobs they all sat down at the feet of the wedding party and stayed there, more or less still, throughout the service. It was darling. For my part, the pausing of the music that went fine in rehearsal yesterday did not work today and my Uncle Leo had to go bolting through the church to pause it manually in the back.
After the wedding Liesl was in for pictures with the wedding party and Dominica went with them as Liesl’s “handler”. Probably a role she will have a lot over the years. Dad came with me and we drove up to the Avon Inn for the reception. The same Avon Inn where my senior prom was eighteen years ago.
Dad and I got there a little on the late side. I had a beer and we hung out with the family out in the lawn. Luciana, who was obviously with us as Dominica and Liesl were pretty busy in the “trolley” limousine with wedding party stuff, had a great time just walking around and meeting everyone. She is always a hit. Fourteen months always are.
I said it with Liesl, fourteen months was like the magic number when she went from seeming like a “baby” and being passive to being a “toddler” and being interactive. Fourteen months seems to be when the fun really starts.
It wasn’t too long before the wedding party arrived and we went in for the reception. Unfortunately Liesl was pretty worn out by this point and was having a bit of a tantrum and I had to remove her before the wedding party was even announced. So I ran out the back door with her and she and I sat outside for quite some time while I waited for her to be in shape enough to be able to go back in. So I missed nearly everything in the early portion of the reception.
By the time that Liesl and I walked back in to the Avon Inn there was already a pretty good line of people getting food. We were seated at table one so we were among those already called so I took Liesl back to the table and immediately set about getting her and I some food. Liesl, we think, has issues with low blood sugar and seems to have real issues if she does not get the right kinds of food at the right times. We are working on that now that we have identified that as a problem. That was a huge challenge for us while we were on vacation because her one consistent source of protein and nutrients is her fortified chocolate milk beverages that she got daily back in the States.
We ate dinner and soon thereafter dad wasn’t feeling too well so I left Dominica with the girls and drove dad back to his house, dropped him off and drove back to the Avon Inn. I managed to arrive just in time to see the last minute of the father – daughter dance. It took me a bit to find Dominica and the girls. It turned out that there was a bathroom emergency and she was working on managing all of them. So I ended up doing multiple sprints around the outside of the Inn trying to get to everyone. It’s been a busy evening.
One of the people that we met at the wedding actually lives right around the corner from us in Carrollton. Right next door to Chris who is watching our house, in fact. Well within an easy walking distance of our place.
We left the wedding just a tiny bit on the early side. We were far from the first ones out but we were not the last. We were totally tired and the girls needed to get to bed. Both were long, long gone by the time that we got to the house. I was able to carry them in and put them to bed without either one waking up. Sadly, this was my last chance to see them for weeks. After this I am starting my longest stretch ever without seeing my daughters.
Once the girls were in bed it was time to start the packing. There was a lot to do and we wanted to load up the Acadia with stuff from the barn as well as just the normal stuff for me to take back with me. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.
Dominica got all of the normal packing done then we went down to the barn together and started going through our stuff there. Boy is there still a lot of stuff down there. Who would have guessed that so much stuff could even still exist after all of the things that we have moved around over the years. It continuously boggles my mind just how much stuff we actually own.
We ended up working on packing the Acadia until about three in the morning. What was more important than the packing was that we managed to go through and eliminate far more than we packed. We produced a whole bin of things to be donated to the rummage sale and many bins, six to ten bins, I would guess, of stuff to be thrown out. We were throwing out a bit more than we were keeping. That is a good ratio. If we could just do that with the rest of our stuff that we still have there and that we have back in Texas we would be in great shape.
It was probably a bit foolish being up so late before I have to drive to Tennessee tomorrow but we were so productive. This is the largest elimination of stuff from storage that we have ever done and there is more to do too.
If we didn’t own so many books maybe it would be easier. The books certainly take up an insane amount of our space. And there are so many more books than we realize. Cookbooks, computer books, music books, novels, travel books, random books, etc. Every box holds some set of books that we have totally forgotten. And to think how many books we have thrown out over the years. It makes me sad. We could have this immense library but we have nowhere to store them all and moving them is so hard. And each year we use them less and less and we shift over to the Kindle and iPad for everything. We almost never pull a book off of the shelf to read anymore. Even ones that we own physically we often use their digital counterparts to actually read.
So it was three o’clock when I finally got to bed. The car is jam packed with stuff and the barn is much closer to being empty than it has been in at least six years. Tomorrow I have to get up early and start my drive south.