JOUOUS NOEL 2007

We went through Quebec twice this year. Parlez vous français? I had to remember high school french to be able to read all the street signs. And, why did we pass through Quebec twice you ask? Why to get to the other side of course. We went through Canada on the way to Vermont. Daughter Lisa’s June master’s degree commencement was there at Norwich University.A fun fact--Did you know Norwich University was the first military college in the US and as such, also invented ROTC? We are so proud of Lisa!

Tom and I were tourists for a week while Lisa completed course requirements for a master’s in military history on the Norwich campus. We cruised on Lake Champlain, climbed mountains in our truck, and visited the world’s largest gray granite quarry, but did not see a moose until the last day. Hope you like our Christmas Moose.

But let’s not get to far ahead, this year began with Vicky and I planning a wedding. While Vicky was home for Christmas, we ordered the wedding dress, pictures, decided on a tux supplier, & reserved the hall. While Vicky was back at college completing her last semester I, with some long distance help from Vicky, managed the rest. Vicky married Brett on May 5th at Selfridge Air National Guard Base. A beautiful ceremony and fun reception went off without a hitch, well sort of, but nothing that could not be fixed.

A week before that, the whole family and a few friends attended Victoria’s commencement at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids. Vicky received her BS in Psychology, with honors—clap-clap-hip-hip hurrah!

After Vicky & Brett’s wedding, Tom and I and Tom, our friend, helped Vicky & Brett take all their worldly belongings and Vicky’s car to Omaha, NE, where Brett is stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. Vicky and Brett now live in Bellevue, NE, in a beautiful, newly refurbished two-story house with attached garage. It is hard to believe it is government housing. Brett is completing his flight training, and Vicky is working for Boys Town, at their home campus. This children’s home & treatment center has come a long way since Father Flanagan began Boys Town 90 years ago. Did you know Boys Town is a real incorporated town, which, with its special residents, makes it the town with the highest per-capita concentration of convicted criminals in the US? Another fun fact that has no particular use.

On September 9th, Jerry and Irene were married in a beautiful ceremony at the Greek Orthodox Church, with a lovely reception following. Lots of Greek dances ensued, with a bevy of pretty little girls in pink dresses running all through the dancers. Irene is a welcome addition to the family! Never have we seen Jerry smile so much as on his wedding day. But of course, the bride was beautiful.

Samantha, our oldest granddaughter was flower girl for both weddings. She now considers herself a professional. Whew! It was a fun year, but busy. It tired out us two retired folks. Thankfully, Thanksgiving was a quiet one at Jerry and now Irene’s home. Just Tom, Sue, Lisa, Jerry and Irene for dinner, Joe, Heather, Sammy and Riley went to Heather’s brother’s home this year. We end this year wishing all, health wealth and happiness in the New Year. Joy to all!

OUR JERRY GOT MARRIED – IT’S ABOUT TIME!

I remember the first time I ever laid eyes on Jerry. He was 4 years old, very blond and very quiet. He and his father, my then new boyfriend, now my husband of 27 years, came to my house to pick me and my son Joe, then 5, up for a day’s outing on Belle Isle. Joe and Jerry were coincidentally wearing identical jackets, were the same height and both very blond. The two boys are 10 months apart in age, and have been the best of friends from the moment they met. Later they became brothers and finished growing up together. I do not remember them ever having a fight over anything. Perhaps that was because they are very opposite in personality, but not in likes and dislikes, and there is still oodles of Lego blocks to prove it.

In any case, I grew to love Jerry, the quiet shy little boy who came to live with us when he was 7. In fact I feel privileged to call him son, and I know he thinks of me as his mother who shares his birthday with him.

Jerry, and his fiancée, Irene, married on Sept 9th. It was a lovely and interesting ceremony in Irene’s church, a beautiful Greek Orthodox Church. The ceremony was long, compared to any other I have attended, and very different, but the effect was the same. The couple is well and truly married. For better or worse and all that jazz.

Jerry met Irene the modern way, through an Internet dating service. It turns out though, she went to school with our brother-in-laws niece- It’s a small world after all. We knew it was serious when Jerry began bringing Irene to family gatherings. Then close to Christmas last year, he and Irene visited our home, by themselves, to tell us Jerry had finally popped the question, he and Irene were engaged. Hurrah!

Not wanting to waste time, having been single quite long enough, thank you, they began planning the wedding. Samantha, our six year old granddaughter, Heather and Joe, Victoria & Brett, and Lisa were all in the wedding, and that was only our side. Big wedding!

Everything was gorgeous, especially the bride, and the groom was his handsomest. We enjoyed the reception too, with its bouts of Greek dancing.
There were about 10 little girls who attended the reception with their families. Somehow they all got the memo that said to wear pink, interestingly, even little girls on our side of the aisle. Anyway these little girls in pink, along with Samantha, the flower girl, in white, began chasing each other in a pink pack, most often with Samantha at the head of the pack, across the dance floor weaving among the adult dancers, dropping petals as they went, occasionally trying to dance together and reminding me of a scene out of Swan Lake. Delightful!

Here are the bride and groom:

OUR LITTLE GIRL GOT MARRIED - TWICE

After a Christmas choir concert at GVSU in 2005, and after asking my and her father's permission, Brett asked Vicky, our youngest daughter to marry him. He did this in front of the entire choir and it was a surprise. She did not know he was even coming to the concert. He was in a suit, with a red rose, and singing For Sentimental Reasons. By the time he was through, every co-ed in the room was crying and Vicky was beet red. She said yes.

May 1st, when Victoria visited Brett in Monterrey California, where he was in training, they eloped and got married by the ocean. Then Vicky went back to being a college student and Brett went back to his Air Force duties. They kept the marriage secret for quite a while, telling most of the family at Christmas.

Vicky still wanted a formal wedding, and as she and Brett would be moving to Nebraska where Brett was then stationed, we agreed to give them a wedding, or technically a renewal of vows ceremony. The wedding was on May 4, 2007 at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, with the reception following in the same venue.

It was a beautiful affair even if I do say so myself. Here is a photo--