Why I've been out of touch: Part 2

To continue our tale of abounding happiness:

Both the wedding and reception were at Scott’s Seafood, by the water at Jack London Square in Oakland, and it was a beautiful sunny day -which made it a perfectly great setting.

The wedding reception was unbelievable. Even the taking of wedding pictures was filled with much laughter and silliness, as the photographer joined enthusiastically in the merriment, laughing, and enjoying the moments with us in a way that made the experience fun and relaxed.

The reception itself was filled with more love and laughter than I can convey. We were told repeatedly by our guests/friends/family that our wedding and reception were the happiest they’ve ever seen / been to. And Kirk’s best man, Dan Ott, had the wise perception that, unlike most weddings, where some people are invited or attend because of a sense of obligation (extended family ties, business relationships, “they came to our wedding so we have to go to theirs,” those sorts of things), in our case, everyone who came to be with us on Saturday was there because they truly wanted to be…truly wanted to share our happiness with us. I think Dan is exactly right. It was an amazing outpouring of love and support for me, for Kirk, and for us. The love that people conveyed, the happiness people felt on our behalf … We were overwhelmed. And still are.

And to give you an idea of how much our friends did to make us feel loved: Along with the “local” friends and relatives who came to the wedding, many of our guests came from great distances or rearranged their schedules to be with us. Of special note to me and Kirk: Deborah and Whit (sister and brother-in-law) rearranged a moving date and U-Haul reservation (long story), packing up the U-Haul and driving from LA on Friday in order to be with us Saturday… then they still had to unpack the U-Haul on Sunday. I can’t imagine how tired they were on Monday morning… ugh. Jon & Christa (brother and sisiter-in-law) had a bar mitzvah first thing Saturday morning-and Jon was one of the people being called to the bema to do a reading, so he HAD to be there. He and Christa raced from Danville to Oakland to make the start of the ceremony. But perhaps more impressive is the number of people who came from long distances on such short notice: Friends and family came from Wisconsin, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Texas, San Luis Obispo, Palm Springs, Merced, Auburn. Man, do Kirk and I feel loved. And so very grateful for the love and friendship we felt from everyone there.

Kirk and I did the “first dance” thing that married couples are supposed to do but, unlike most weddings, we had the dance floor to ourselves as my daughter Dani, with her beautiful voice, sang “our” song, “Make You Feel My Love” - a Bob Dylan song recently covered by a brilliant young singer, Adele. (Worth a listen on “YouTube” if you haven’t heard it. Or depending upon how the wedding reception video comes out, perhaps we’ll be able to post Dani’s version…it was beautiful. So proud of our girl!)

Okay, this blog entry gone on too long already, so I'll leave Part 3 of our wonderful wedding story till the next blog update.

Love you guys,
/ab