Summer Vacation: Part 2, Matrimony

On June 23, 2013, my cousin Haley married her best friend, Greg.  It was perhaps the loveliest, most fun wedding celebration I've ever attended or been a part of.  I love Haley and Greg dearly, I look up to them in so many ways, and I was so honored to be involved in some very special aspects of this wedding.

 The festivities and celebrating started here....

I am so thankful that I was asked to join Haley at the Mayyim Hayyim Living Waters Community Mikvah as she prepared for her wedding.  (Fun Fact...Anita Diamant, the author of the Red Tent, is the founding president of this beautiful facility).  Ritual immersion in a mikvah is a long held tradition in Judaism and is a requirement under Jewish law for brides.  After Haley emerged from the mikvah, the afternoon was spent celebrating Haley.  We talked about family, women, our ancestors, and the hard and joyous work of marriage that lies ahead for her.  Women from Haley's family and Greg's family were both present at this peaceful, small, gathering, and I will always treasure that I was able to join her. 

As people started coming into Boston from all over the country for the weekend, the celebrating really got up to speed.  Manicures and pedicures for friends and cousins...and my little flower girl too!  She felt very special to get to join the big girls (and her favorite cousin Michael) for this event. 

The rehearsal dinner was a perfectly lovely evening.  Great food, funny and touching speeches, family slideshows, and a very special challah made by my Great Aunt Sylvia, my grandmother's sister. 

Sunday morning was a whirlwind of getting ready to head to Camp Kiwanee, about an hour outside of Boston, for the ceremony and reception.

There's always a fair amount of anticipation, excitement, and even nervousness when someone near and dear to your heart walks down the aisle.  But those emotions were a bit (who I am kidding...a LOT) amped up this time around.  I had some big jobs associated with this particular wedding.  Jobs I was BEYOND honored to be asked to do.  But I was a bit nervous....

First, my little Sadie was asked to be the flower girl.  She was so excited about this role; she loved her dress, her pretty shoes, her new haircut, and the fact that she'd be walking down the aisle with her cousin Chloe by her side.  But she'd also been dropping comments fairly regularly about how she didn't want everyone looking at her, and she didn't like having her picture taken.  And I was having nightmarish flashbacks about the last time she was a flower girl.  She and I walked down the aisle, hand in hand, at my brother and sister-in-law's wedding.  All eyes were on us...and then people started oohing and aahing and taking pictures.  And Sadie couldn't handle it.  She dropped to the ground and tried to disappear.  And I somehow bent down in a short dress and very high heels and proceeded to carry her down the aisle, all the while whispering reassuring comments in her ear and telling her to just close her eyes and hold onto Mama.  Not so smooth.  Needless to say, I was the teeny tiniest bit nervous this second time around.  And I wouldn't be holding her hand this time.  But she's two years older, so I kept telling myself she'd be fine.


Then there was the chuppah.  I think once upon a time I sewed an apron for Haley on my 100-year old sewing machine.  And my mom and I, of course, have gifted her with plenty of handknit items.  But we are not, by any stretch of the imagination, seamstresses.  But despite that small fact, when she asked us last November to create a chuppah for her wedding ceremony, we leapt at the chance.  I'll do anything for this girl.


Well, that sent Mom and me down a long, winding, sometimes stressful path to the final product....this patchwork chuppah, assembled from panels contributed by members of both Haley's and Greg's families....

It's clearly handmade....I didn't want anyone looking too closely.  But I do feel immensely proud of what my mom and I accomplished with this chuppah, and I hope that Haley and Greg can feel all the love and well wishes that went into it. 

But all this really felt like small potatoes when up against what was really making me nervous.  Haley had asked my dad, my husband, and I to play music during and after the wedding ceremony.  As in....during the processional and recessional!  Like....as a beautiful bride was walking down the aisle on her wedding day, I would be playing my mandolin.  WHAT???  I'm the mandolin picker who won't even play in front of other people in the comforts of my own home.  I prefer to hide in a dark closet where no one can hear me.  But again, I'd do anything for this girl.  So I have been practicing my ASS off!  I have played more mandolin in the past 6 months than ever in my life.  There's nothing like the looming threat of having to play your instrument in front of more than 100 silent and listening friends, family, and strangers, on your dear cousin's most important day, to put the pressure on you to pick up your instrument and practice.  So that's what we've been doing.  And I was sweating, and fidgety, and feeling a bit panicked until the moment I got the thumbs up from the wedding planner to strike those first notes.

And we pulled it all off just fine.  Nothing was flawless.  I hit some weird notes, Sadie walked down the aisle looking at the ground, and the chuppah certainly has a few (more than a few) "oops" spots.

But it was all perfect for the occasion.  All this work and effort was worth it.  We succeeded in helping Haley celebrate her marriage in the way she wanted to.  It was personal, and intimate, and all about family and friends and love.  And although professional musicians certainly would have sounded better...no one other than her Uncle Jon (my dad) could have written a song, Haley's Waltz, JUST FOR THIS OCCASION.


And obviously, playing music alongside my two favorite pickin' buddies, but husband and my dad, made it that much less scary, and that much more fun.  And it was all about the giant love I have for these two beautiful people, Haley and Greg, as they start their married lives together.

The wedding reception was one of the more fun that I have been to.  They had a great live band, that played songs that filled the dance floor the entire night.  I danced with my husband, my mom and dad, my daughter, my brother and sister-in-law, and the rest of my extended family.  Such fun...

 

And it was SO cool that after the wedding festivities were over we stayed the night in summer camp cabins, after continuing the party around a bonfire and skinny dipping in the lake.

It was such a joyous celebration and I felt so thankful and blessed to be able to celebrate the marriage of Haley and Greg. 

Some Other Fun Stuff I Should Mention (and link to)

We've had some lovely nights out which have included DELICIOUS food, drink, and entertainment.  Thought I should give a shout out to all this fabulousness....

We celebrated our anniversary about a month late with dinner at The Bonefish Grill.  We LOVE Bonefish.  The service is always great, the atmosphere is nice, and the food is delicious.  AND, my favorite thing about it is that you can eat a healthy dinner and still feel like you're splurging.  Unlike most dinners out, I don't leave feeling like I've sabotaged my entire healthy nutritious lifestyle. ;)

And then we headed to one of our very favorite local music shops, Twist & Shout, and splurged on a big old pile of records (yep, vinyl...we're into it).  Faves include Brandi Carlisle's new album Bear Creek, Todd Snider's Acoustic Hymns & Stoner Fables, Widespread Panic's Live In the Classic City II, the new Old Crow Medicine Show; and some great used selections including: Uncle Tupelo's No Depression, some choice Hot Rize and Red Knuckles albums, and something called aerobic clogging.  No seriously.  And it's great (for old-time fans like us...)

It felt like the old days (in my 20s) spending the evening with earphones on at Twist & Shout, actually spending money on music (!), and hanging with my man in the big city on a Friday night.  Fun!


In October, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law took us out for a very fun night on the town to celebrate my birthday.  Margaritas at The Rio, dinner and delicious beers at a great new find, Freshcraft, and more drinks and skeeball (and Ms. Pacman!) at 1-Up Arcade Bar! 

 The night before our most recent house concert we finally got a chance to dine at one of the hippest, hardest seats to get in Denver, Linger.  (I know, don't we sound so fancy???).  It was an anniversary gift from my parents and it was AMAZING!  Such a delicious dinner..the hype and anticipation were worth it.  And then we went and saw one of our new fave bands, Elephant Revival atone of Denver's best live music venues, the Soiled Dove Underground.


Last weekend, courtesy of a vendor I use, Origins Laboratory, we had great seats to watch our Denver Broncos and our new quarterback Peyton Manning win against the New Orleans Saints.  We had a chance to tailgate on a beautiful, cool fall day with our neighbors Ryan and Amanda...a perfect Sunday. 

We sure are lucky that we have family in town and we get to go out and act like grown married people every once in a while (pretty often, in fact).  I swear, this is one of the most important things that we do to keep our marriage happy and healthy.  And all thanks to our village!!!

July? Hello?

Oh my gosh, what happened to July??  The last time I was actively blogging it was about things that happened in mid-June, and now here we are in August!  Oy.  Time sure flies when you're having the time of your life.  And boy have I been.

Let's see.  At the end of June we enjoyed a couple rare, unscheduled, mostly-close-to home weekends.  We blew up Sadie's pool and drank beer in the driveway with our neighbors.

 We (and by we I mean the neighborhood men) put together Sadie's new playhouse.



We celebrated our nephew Elias' baptism and enjoyed a short, but lovely visit with Brian's aunt and uncle who were visiting from California.

We had dinner at my brother and sister-in-law's house and visited with my aunt and uncle who live in town but we don't see nearly as often as I'd like to.

Oh, and we have a new family member!  Brian's beautiful new Brooks Masten Fretless Banjo.  Yay for more handmade, acoustic instruments! Love love love that....



The first weekend in July found us spending some time in Colorado Springs with our dear friends the Noleens.  We also took Sadie to Boulder's Dinner Theater for the first time.  It's an annual tradition for my family, and I've been dreaming of bringing Sadie with us as soon as she was old enough.  Well, this summer's production of Cinderella seemed like the PERFECT opportunity!  Needless to say, my little princess was in heaven.

And then it was time to kiss my family goodbye, give them a few extra squeezes, throw my pack on my back and get on the plane (by myself!) to Paducah, Kentucky.  More on that in the next post....

After making a brief appearance at work upon my return from the aforementioned 10-day trip, and getting hit by a pretty big emotional hammer due to some intensity in my loved one's lives, we were back to living the good life in "festival land".  Rockygrass was utterly divine this year, as it always is.  And coming off said emotional hammering, I absolutely soaked and reveled in all the beauty that was around me.  Moments of particular musical brilliance; watching my daughter hug, kiss, and generally and love on neighbors and friends and strangers; running alone along the St. Vrain River early Saturday morning and keeping my eyes open for a bear who I knew was nearby; drinking mead and visiting with like-minded festival mamas; curling up in my husband's lap while watching this band play this song on stage and letting all the emotion of a very hard and heartbreaking day pour out of me (Love and love and nothing else, is all I need)...these are the moments I treasure at a festival. 

Festivating with an infant was easy.  I wore the baby everywhere I went and during everything I did, including into the port-a-potty and while setting up and taking down camp.  She nursed and I festivated.  Easy.  But the next two years were anything but easy.  Festivating with a new 1-year-old walker and a rambunctious, newly independent (and not very focused on listening) 2-year-old were NOT SO EASY.  And while festivating with a 3-year-old is certainly exhausting, and not anything at all like festivals in our pre-parents days...this (so far) has been by far my favorite festival season yet.  Sadie is so comfortable and understanding of the music and camping scene, that she sleeps well, listens well, and really gets into the whole vibe of the thing.  AND, whereas in past years, we lived and died by her taking a nap and getting to bed by 8 p.m....now she can (finally!) go without a nap without completely losing her mind, and bedtime rules and routines can definitely be flexible while at a festival.



On Friday night of the festival, Brian was exhausted, so he and Sadie both crawled into the tent by about 9 p.m.  The glowsticks came out on Saturday night, and Sadie and her friend Beau ran each other ragged until about 9:30 p.m. in the festival grounds while we parents enjoyed the music and kept an eye on the kiddos.  I could tell that Sadie was getting tired when she sat down in the middle of playtime facing away from the stage.  I invited her to crawl into my lap and she was asleep in moments.  I watched the rest of the set while she slept peacefully on my chest.  She went right back to sleep when we got back to the tent and slept all night.

But my very favorite was the last night of the festival.  All our festival buddies were gone, it was raining, and one of my top-three-favorite-of-all-time musicians, Tim O'Brien, was closing out the festival.  Sadie and I were fresh out of a nice warm shower and in our comfy clothes and raingear.  Brian and I found a nice spot to sit where we could see the stage, we spread a tarp across our laps, Sadie crawled into the "fort" formed between our chairs, and promptly fell asleep.  I cannot put into words the pure bliss I felt as a light Colorado rain fell on my family as we watched and absorbed the beautiful music coming to us from stage.  Sitting there with my loving husband while our beautiful, perfect daughter slept peacefully between us, was one of the happiest moments of my life.  Truly.

Another high point of the festival....Sadie and I sat down in the front row of the sheltered theater on the festival grounds to watch Red Molly's set.  Sadie, again, was completely entranced by the beautiful women in the beautiful dresses and boots.  She wanted to pretend she was singing like they were.  LOVE that she gets so into watching women on stage!

Anyway, this about sums up how I feel in my heart about things right now.  Despite a lot of pain and sadness all around these days, I'm never far from this....



May I suggest
May I suggest to you
May I suggest this is the best part of of your life

May I suggest
this time is blessed for you
this time is blessed and shining almost blinding bright
just turn your head
and you’ll begin to see
the thousand reasons that were just beyond your sight

the reasons why
why I suggest to you
why I suggest this is the best part of your life

there is a world
that’s been addressed to you
addressed to you, intended only for your eyes
a secret world
a treasure chest to you
of private scenes and brilliant dreams that mesmerize

a tender lover’s smile
a tiny baby’s hands
the million stars that fill the turning sky at night

Oh I suggest
Yes I suggest to you
Yes I suggest this is the best part of your life

There is a hope
that’s been expressed in you
the hope of seven generations, maybe more
this is the fate
that they invest in you
it’s that you’ll do one better that was done before

inside you know
inside you understand
inside you know what’s yours to finally set right

and i suggest
and i suggest to you
and i suggest this is the best part of your life

this is a song
comes from the west to you
comes from the west, comes from the slowly setting sun
this is a song
with a request of you
to see how very short the endless days will run
and when they’re gone
and when the dark descends
we’d give anything for one more hour of life

may i suggest
this is best part of your life

Backward and Forward: Marriage

image credit

2011 was a good year for marriage in the Peterson household (at least it was in my opinion). I feel like Brian and I finally found our footing as parents AND partners, and found a good balance between the two. I think that the hard work I've done, personally, to be less of a complete crazy lady has helped immensely. I feel like we fight and bicker less than ever, and we work through disagreements relatively well. Don't get me wrong, we're still fighters, but I think more often than not, we're productive fighters.

I'm proud that Brian and I make time in our lives to be JUST married, and not JUST parents who happen to be married. I think that sometimes people can lose themselves in the day to day work of being parents to a small child and forget that once upon a time they were actually in love with each other and enjoyed spending time together.

Brian and I regularly send Sadie to one of her grandparents' houses for the weekend and spend some time for just the two of us. These are usually house concert weekends, which is even better because we're spending that time doing something we're passionate about.

In 2011, Brian and I also became closer through our new, shared, healthy lifestyle. This is has been really important that we've gone through such big personal transformations together.

My personal goals for 2012 when it comes to my marriage are personal, but can be somewhat summed up by the following mantras:

• Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (especially your husband!, I forget this way too often)
• Remind myself what I LOVE about this man, and remember to tell him, too
• RESPECT! Always!
• Fight fair
• “I don't know the question, but sex is definitely the answer.” -Woody Allen ;)
  

L-O-V-E

These two people are really in love. And now they're MARRIED!

They are my little brother (and only sibling), and my now (finally) official sister-in-law! I love these two people so much!!!


I'm just now blogging about their lovely wedding celebration...more than two months after the fact. Not because it wasn't the best week of the summer...(because it was), but simply because we've been going non-stop since then.


I couldn't have imagined a better way to celebrate these two people and their great friendship and love for each other. I'm never happier than when surrounded by all the people I love most in the world. It was so special to have not only my extended family, but friends of ours who have become close with Adam and Mari, and even my in-laws all together for the weekend.


And it was so wonderful to meet the rest of Mari's family. I love that I automatically have an entirely new branch of my family...and they are such lovely people!

But none more than Mari herself. I am so thankful that she is the woman my brother will be spending his life with. She is such a wonderful addition to our family and I look forward to becoming even closer with her as we all grow old together!

I won't get into the mayhem that happened during the actual wedding among my little family of three. Whether it was the over stimulation, the exhaustion, or the injured arm she was dealing with for 24 hours...Sadie was definitely needing her mama and no one else. Unfortunately for me, that meant that I was not as much a part of the wedding celebration as I wanted to be, and didn't get to visit with many of the people I was looking forward to seeing. Another motherhood lesson for the books....



I also won't get into the shape I was in the morning after the wedding. I made up for lost time after I knew that Sadie was safely sleeping after a VERY tough day for her (and her parents). Needless to say, I'm too old for that. The following day was rough. I deserved it.

But all that aside, the resounding sentiment of the weekend was that these two are perfect for each other. So true. They take care of and respect each other like no one else can and in exactly the way each of them needs.


They are loving, caring, fun souls and I'm so happy they've found each other. What I want most for my little brother is to have love in his life. And he does. What a beautiful thing.