The wedding was wonderful. My daughter was beautiful. Of course there were glitches, like a big storm and the power going out at both the seamstresses house and shop when she was making final alterations on the dress. But it was done before the wedding – that’s all that counts. And my family – what a wonderful family!

So let me start by explaining that this wasn’t your regular wedding, my daughter wanted to be sure she had time to really visit with people. So this was a three day event. Friday evening was a welcome party at a local brewery. Folks gathered for a casual evening where we purchased our own food and drink but whoever was already in town could get together. I had made sure all my family, coming in to Chicago from San Diego, Arizona, Boston, Michigan and more knew that things got started on Friday. So we were all there in force. It was low-key, but a nice way of starting. All the parents got to say hello. And there are lots of parents. Both the bride and groom have divorced and re-married parents, so that makes 8 parental units counting the step-parents. I wasn’t really interested in interacting with my ex, or most of his family for that matter. Not for any particular reason other than there were so many people I really did want to spend my time with.

Then on Saturday morning, my more immediate family gathered with the bride and groom for breakfast. It was a nice time for the cousins and Aunts and Uncles to have some special moments to catch up. Saturday night was an open mic / talent show. What a memorable event that was. All of my niblings participated and sang, recited Shakspear or read a poem. I was so amazed by their talents – and so proud. I learned more about them in those moments and will cherish that evening for years to come. My daughter and I sang a cover of the Chicks song, Landslide – a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s song. That was a very special moment. She and her husband to be sang with their band and lots of their musical friends sang songs and told stories. My 91 year-old father got up on stage and read one of his favorite poems by a Cowboy Poet.

Then on Sunday, I went with my sister and nibling to help set up a lunch spread for the bride and bride’s maids to much on while they got ready for the wedding. Things started to go sideways as the hair appointment time hadn’t been written down correctly and Josie was late, so it took longer than expected. We had pictures taken at the Garfield Park Conservatory and then went to the venue for the Wedding. It was wonderful, beautiful, magical. I enjoyed spending time with family, meeting so many of Josie and Joseph’s friends, dancing, laughing and being part of such a wonderful event!

And then we got home Monday night and I crashed. The following week, I still felt so drained and really had no energy to interact with anyone. Tired. So tired. Drained. Then someone gave me a word for it, an emotional hangover. Yes! I had an emotional hangover! It was about a week before I fully recovered and I didn’t discover any “hair of the dog” for an emotional hangover. The only thing to do was to rest, relax and not be around large groups of people or be in charge of any large gatherings!

My daughter is married, I have a son-in-law and couldn’t be happier! Life is Good.