Last Friday I got my first manicure.
Ever!
It was actually quite pleasant, with various bridesmaids and a groomsmaid and even the groom running around in this cute little salon. And come Tuesday, I've hit another record (which, honestly, I'm sure I hit Saturday night). I'm still wearing nail polish! Sure, I've tried applying it (clumsily) before. Pretty colors, shiny, etc. But the feel of this foreign matter applied to parts of my body has always left me feeling uneasy. This pink glossy stuff still feels unnatural, but because I had to wear it for the wedding, I've since passed the threshold of "totally icky!"
We were supposed to have a faux-mikvah on Friday morning, a Jewish ritual bath. In the real thing, a bride to be goes into a clean pool, submerges herself completely, and purifies herself. In more orthodox traditions, she also has to shave her head. This ritual bath is also performed in varying degrees after menstruation and after giving birth. Anybody who knows more actual specifics, feel free to share.
The bride is not Jewish, but the groom is. Well, he's "half Jewish and half Scottish." My husband remarked how it sounded like Scottish was a religion. I told him that many people find Jewishness to be a race as much as it is a religion, which makes some sense because of the focus on family, the heritage, and they way they've been grouped and lumped and persecuted by others. I'm not Jewish; I only play one in a choir and through books. I can sing songs for you or start half of almost any blessing in Hebrew. And I won't turn down an invitation to a Passover seder
Anyway, we skipped the mikvah we were going to have in Lake Erie... because the lake was closed that day... because storms the night before caused sewage to seep into it. Gotta love good ol' Erie. At least it's not on fire, right?
So after the failed mikvah (which meant we got to sleep in) and Katie and I went shopping, and after the manicures (honestly, I stop what I'm doing and stare at my nails several times a day, if not hour), we scuttled to the rehearsal. Have you ever been to a wedding rehearsal involving 20-somethings that actually went smoothly? My own priest almost two years ago was a complete dear, and so was the bride's mother's pastor at this weekend's wedding, but I could tell that both men got pretty irritated at our selfish and wild antics. Nobody likes to listen! We managed to run through the skeleton of the ceremony thoroughly enough to produce a smooth and tear-inducing wedding the next day.
The rehearsal dinner was fun, too. It was at a place called Presti's, which has the same name as a famous donutaria (I made that up) near most of the wedding party's alma mater. It's not the same place - just another guy with an Italian last name and killer-good food. Riesling was enjoyed by all. I sat at a table with my Katie, another bridesmaid and her awesome fiance, the matron of honor and her hilarious husband, and the groom's brother and his awesome wife. We told more jokes in poor taste and had a wonderful time getting to know each other better. Then it was gift time. The bride made each of her ladies a beautiful simple wooden box. Actually, she bought the boxes but then carved and painted and stained each box with our favorite flowers. She put sunflowers on mine, and it was absolutely beautiful. Pictures of sunflower box and nails may follow later. Each of the groomsmen got a specialized gift, and Steve, completely uninvolved and not even there that night, got a "real men wear kilts" circular refrigerator magnet with the names and date of the wedding on it. It's really cute.
Good food was followed by gelato and more wine. Then Katie and I went to K-Mart to run around like college girls, get breakfast, pens, and a small sewing kit. See, I was told months ago to attach my shoulder straps to my dress. I assumed there would be an easy way to do this within the makeup of the dress itself, but no. It has to be sewn in, and I never went to a tailor to get this done. So at 2am, Katie helped me place the pins properly and then read a book out loud as I made use of my 8th grade crappy sewing skills. The end result was ugly, but only on the inside of the dress, and it was sturdy. Steve worked until midnight Friday/Saturday and arrived at the hotel at 5:30am, called and woke me, and then the three of us slept not-so-scandalously in the king-sized bed before preparing for a beautiful wedding day in the morn. Saturday and Sunday to follow later.
What I learned:
1. Lake Erie is never clean.
2. Brides and grooms to be are hilarious to watch, especially when they're in a hurry. Being their chauffeur is a rewarding job if you're a good driver like me
(no stories of my early years, Mama!)
3. Speaking somewhat poorly of the mother of the groom in front of one of her other sons is a salvageable faux-pas, especially if said son is intelligent and understanding.
3a. Emily is slowly but surely getting more adept at humility
Comments (10)
'Baruch atta Adoni, Eloi henu mellec a holam, boray parie hagafin.' (Really bad translation, but fairly accurate if you understand my spelling. - My transliterated Jewish prayer book is probably in the basement!!!) "Blessed be God, Creator of the universe, for the fruit of the vine.' I can also recite the 'Shema,' and write it in Hebrew, but won't attempt it with my horrid spelling - it would be an insult!
Your nails look FAB!!!
Manicures are fun, but I have had only one myself. It was sort of weird.
I loved what you learned. The last is likely something you already had but under the circumstances i can understand. I have rabid foot in mouth disease on most occasions.
The mikvah is the ritual bath. Because it depends on the person being PHYSICALLY clean, it often adjoins (in the same building) a shower/bath/toilet facility, where you can bathe and clean up, etc.
Yeah, Jews are a race...look around at the Jews near you--there's something that ties them together.
Hmm...weddings...yeah, rehearsal NEVER goes smoothly...unless you've had, like, a dozen or so.
Donuteria--can I steal that?
RYCs: The gameplan for me, the wife, and kids is to start trying for one next summer. In the meantime we'll keep working on shoring up our various debts. Elizabeth loves reading about births and child development so she's had most of these books for a while. As for the travel system and a few other things, it's kind of like having a long engagement. If you wait long enough, just about everything you need will be on sale or clearance at some point.
As for Lauren, I haven't actually seen her since her wedding back in December. She's married and working, I can tell you that much. I'll probably have more to report on Monday if you want details.
Your wedding weekend sounds like a blast. For what its worth I've never seen any rehearsal go smoothly. In my case the problem was all on my party. My wife's bridesmaids were all married. They and their husbands were extremely well behaved and helpful through the whole thing. My groomsmen and ushers spent every spare second huddled around some guy's cell phone getting pitch by pitch updates on a baseball game. Still, weddings are fun.
There's an old rock song whose name I can't remember. In fact the only part I can remember is the line that goes, "Smoke on the water....Fire in the sky!" Someone once told me that it was inspired by either Lake Erie or a river (Cuyahoga perhaps?) catching fire.