Puffs

Weddings . . . Technology . . . The Economy . . .

Our family had an interesting, exciting and fun weekend. Over the years we’ve attended many wedding ceremonies. Five of our children have been married for some time, so, most recent wedding ceremonies we’ve been to lately have been nieces or nephews or friends.

Last weekend Nancy and I had the pleasure and honor of being the parents of the groom, again. But, boy how things have changed over the years. We did almost nothing in preparation for the event, during and after. Didn’t even worry. That was quite a change from previous weddings, but it was nice.

In general, it was as nice any previous wedding we’ve ever been at (except maybe our own). But we had a couple of interesting events that I have to pass on.

The first item was the problem of how to get to the locations in Lincoln where everything was being held. The answer was: “technology.”

As we left home we put in the addresses in our “G P S” system in the car. We entered the city: ‘Lincoln’; we entered the street name: “Q” and went to enter the number. The GPS accepted the number 6 OK, but would not accept the ‘00’ to make the number 600. After several attempts, we retreated back to the street name and found we had the option to enter ‘Q’ or ‘West Q’. We put in the second option and found the GPS was happy.

About two hours later, we approached Lincoln on West O Street. Before we got downtown the GPS told us to turn. I was convinced I knew how to get to where we need to go, but trying to become a ‘believer’ in technology, we followed directions and soon ended up in a residential area at a dead end street. We got out of there and followed my instincts and made it to the hotel just fine.

It was just another experience with technology that leads me to further trepidation for the subject.

The economy . . . that’s another subject. Somehow in our family a tradition got started that the lucky bride and groom gets showered with “silly string.” It usually happens during the first dance at the reception, but this time it came during the rehearsal dinner. I was thinking the bride and groom was happy that was over with, even though they were not expecting it at that time.

However . . . the ‘stilly string’ came out again during the reception after the wedding and the couple got to experience it all over again.

I’m concerned that maybe all the silly string in Lincoln has been sold out for whoever else may want to buy some. However . . . on the bright side, the next economic report should show a positive gain in products sold. In short, it was good for the economy.

The final observation of the weekend falls under the head line of: “The best plans of mice and men sometimes goes astray.”

In the family there is that occasional time an alcoholic drink is consumed. Often, that drink is called a “Manhattan.” It has become sort of a tradition since my older brothers introduced the drink to the family many years ago.

However . . . very often while attending wedding receptions or dinners of other sorts, the bar does not carry the correct ingredients to mix the drink. The groom was well aware of this and took proper time and instructions to the people catering the dinner and bar and they assured him the proper ingredients would be there. Well, as I approached the bar for the first time, I looked over the selection of ingredients and saw the proper items. Feeling assured I would get what I wanted, I ordered a Manhattan drink. The young man behind the bar immediately started to work, but then stopped, looked me over and asked: “Do you want Vermouth in that?”

That question stopped me in my tracks . . . I didn’t get mad I simply started laughing and said yes, I didn’t know of any other way to make a Manhattan other that using Vermouth. I can usually get a Manhattan at Dick’s Place in Lawrence without being asked if I wanted Vermouth in the drink, but not in Lincoln.

How-so-ever . . . The weekend was a grand affair. I got reacquainted with quite a number of friends I hadn’t seen for years. Got to see a lot of siblings, nieces and nephews I had not seen for a while. The wedding ceremony at the church was extraordinary, simple and meaningful.

A O

By now, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I haven’t brought a single ‘political’ subject up for this week. For the weekend I never took any time out to watch a bit of TV news, and, I survived just well. I did look at a little bit of newspaper coverage of the news, but TV news was not in the picture.

It was a simple weekend and the lack of TV news coverage didn’t both me in the least.

Now . . . I have to get back to the ordinary things in life. For example: by the time this is written we have on the schedule:

• A birthday gathering for a neighbor.

• Two birthday parties for two grandchildren in the next week or so.

• Meetings for the Community Building project.

• Meetings for the church renovations project.

• P. T. appointments for Nancy.

• V A medical appointment coming up shortly for both of us.

• Then . . . looking ahead for the Cornhusker football and volleyball games. For those, I will watch TV.

A O