We arrived where we saw tons of cars, in the mud, along the long driveway and a huge tent, where we assumed the wedding would be taking place outside. I was not exactly dressed for the weather. I was wearing a black lace skirt, with the pink flower embroidered top, that Tom's parents bought me, with a black satin, night shirt underneath and black, rather high high heels with a bow on top. Luckily, I did bring a change of clothing and shoes, if it got too cold. My heels kept sinking into the mud, so walking was difficult, but I was determined to look nice, when I hardly ever get a chance to dress up, it may be once a year when an opportunity like this happens.
The wedding was a circus theme, so they had popcorn on the table, buckets of candy and wine. Dave also had circus theme games, like ball throwing and a painting with siamese twins, a giant and a midget but the faces were cut out, so we could take a picture with our faces in the wooden painting. It was real fun. There was a dessert table, that looked like it could have been in a German bakery. There were three cakes side by side, one chocolate and two vanilla. The two vanilla ones had a huge "D" for Dave and the other a "J" for Jillian. The chocolate that was placed in the front had the bride and groom on the cake. There were other desserts, such as cookies, lemon meringue pie, apple pie, cherry pie, chocolate cookies, old fashioned candies, such as a huge lollipop on a stick that will take forever to eat, that surrounded the cakes.
I saw a lot of familiar faces, where memories came rushing back and I felt a bit emotional. For each person, I have a story to tell. I have many stories of Dave of course. I wonder if they look back with fondness and remember them the way I do. I saw Shane, a close friend of Dave's, who is a nurse. I met his wife and four month old son, very cute. I never thought Shane would be the type to get married. I remember his dad use to have a hot tub in his home and that is where Dave would take pictures of me for his portfolio. Those were good times. Shane would always joke, that he has a rule for people who use his hot tub, that is no one is allowed to wear swim suits and if anyone feels frisky and wants to have sex, he gets to watch. His best man speech was the funniest, I had ever heard and it was close to the heart. I saw another friend of Dave's, Ben. I remember, how he helped me with one assignment in university. He told me the story of how he hated university and he once had this stupid essay to write on what they thought of on some piece of art. In any case, he wanted to show the professor how stupid he thought the assignment was and so he quoted cartoon characters such as Bart Simpson and South Park. He got an A for the way it was written, but it was followed by a lecture from the professor about respect. Ben is manic depressive and he is on this medication that makes him shake. I always admired Ben's desire to push away from the mainstream views of "normal" and be his own person. He was wearing jeans, a plaid shirt and a feather scarf that he got at the dollar shop. There was one time I remember, when Ben dropped Dave and Yoshe off in front of his house and before I could get out, he drove off and then asked me to go for coffee. We came back two hours later. Dave and Yoshe were talking to his mom and the joke became that he kidnapped me because that is the only way he can get a date. I told them I was just as surprised as they were and I was, but I thought he was so funny. To this day, it remains the best way a man as ever asked me on a coffee date.
Bob Mcnair was there. He worked at the university of Waterloo in the art department. He was taking pictures for Dave's wedding. We used to model for him as well. We met his daughter and her boyfriend. His daughter knew an old boyfriend of both my sister and I. He was the boy next door and rebound boy as we used to call him. She explained how he is a big kid and always will be, so no he is not married, no children and plays guitar in a band. No surprise.
I also saw Dave's mom and twin sister, whom I met when I went to Vancouver for the first time with Dave 10 yrs ago and was introduced to his cousin and we started dating. It didn't work out, but we are still in touch through facebook. Randy is now a doctor and in a long term relationship. I was disappointed that I did not see Randy there. He couldn't make it because of work. I have fond memories of that time in Vancouver with Dave and meeting his family. Not all the memories were so good. Dave did not like that his cousin and I liked each other and half way through the trip he started to feel like a third wheel. Dave handled it well and let it go. He was even there for me, when I realized that things were not going to work out and he did not judge me, but instead he talked me through my feelings of resentment, anger and loss. Things worked out as they should. I am here now, and was thrilled to share this day with my old friend Dave, the man who sent me a photo of himself, wearing nothing but a towel over his penis when i was lonely in Japan to cheer me up. He was at the airport waiting for me, after being in Japan for one year and he was there to greet me with his sense of humour, smile and big bear hug that he is famous in my books for. He is the guy, I would ride on the back of his moto bike with and when we got scared because a bee flew into his helmut as we cruisin' on the highway. It never stung him, but he was sweating buckets as he kept his cool, telling me to calm down or we'll die. Ahhhh, good times. He deserves this so much. His mom, was emotional and told us that is not everyday, that a woman will come along and say "Hey, could I live in the back of your studio and clean it up for you and cook in that tiny kitchen as well", but low and behold a woman came along and did. Cleanliness and organization was not Dave's strong suit.
We picked Markus up at the grandparents the next day. He was sleeping. Tom's mom and sister were on their way out to go shopping and they asked us to fend for ourselves. I swear sometime's I think my MIL thinks we are dumb and need instructions for everything. She tells us the obvious, such as don't wake Markus, food is in the fridge and change Markus when he wakes up. Whenever, I pick Markus up, after he had stayed the night, I feel like she thinks she is his mother and she can do a better job than me. We nodded our heads and said fine. What more could we say. My MIL can be nice but with a sharp edge to her, there is not a lot of warmth, but she is very caring and she hides it. She is like the mother hen who has to take care of everyone, even if they do not need caring for.
We were to meet my dad at 4pm, which I have not seen him for a long while. In any case, Markus was still sleeping at 3:30pm, I had to wake him. By this time, Tom's mom and sister had returned. Markus was moody and did not want me to put him down, he did not want to be with his aunt or grandma, he only wanted me. I think, he felt that if he lets go of me, we will leave him again, all kids go through this stage. In any case, my MIL said "he is like this because you did wake him and he was not ready to be woken". She kept repeating that I had woken him, I finally said "I know, I was there". Markus is always like this after he wakes up, whether I wake him or not. He has always been like this for about 20 minutes after waking up and then he is fine again.
After going out to eat with my dad, sister and BIL, and off to Victoria Park, which I have not been in a long time, we went back to Tom's parents. We picked up luggage that we will be taking to Germany with us this Saturday. Another thing, is that my MIL has to control and be apart of everything, I guess it is just in her nature to be the busy bee. Again, with stating things that are not necessary such as "don't spend too much money there". Tom said what I was thinking, "if we spend money we do and if we don't we don't, leave that up to us ok". She retorted back that she would tell his sister that after we left anyway, so we don't have to listen but she has a right to say it. I thought, well we also have a right to say what we say then. It doesn't mean anything. Some things go without saying, but if we don't spend money, we don't want it to be because she told us not to. The thing is that even though she doesn't realize it, she has planted the seed in Tom's mind. I can see this from being the outsider. Anyhow, his parents are driving us to the airport and picking us up and if all they want is to be involved in their kids life, it's not such a bad thing. Their good folks. I just wish the approach would be less annoying.
Yesterday, with it being the long week end and such a sunny, warm day, we took Markus to the park. I have a bit of a sun burn now. Thankfully, I put sunscreen on Markus, so he does not. We also watched the movie Apollo 13 because of a discussion we had in the car the night before. I saw it in 95' when it first came out. I wanted to see if I would have a different perspective now, since I now have a frame of reference, whereas before, I did not know anything about space and Neil Armstrong etc. I was only a teenager. I saw it through different lenses this time round and was able to appreciate it more and learn something, I did not know before. However, I still did not like the movie that much and found a lot of it to be boring, but at least now, I gained new insight at the same time.
So, I went through my long week end. It was pretty good and exciting, but today, I am waiting for an email from teacher's college so that I can select my practicum and I am babysitting and I am out of diapers for Markus, so I can not wait until his mom picks the other boy up, so I can run out for diapers. Today, is a good day to start potty training, I suppose.
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