6
Jul
Lew’s Wedding
Topic: Family and Friends
Tags: Me, Newport, Relatives
The bride and groom (Lew and Cheryl), Lew’s siblings, and their families (minus my family, and one sister and her family)
My trip to Newport last weekend was a feverish whirlwind. Feverish because I had a cold, and a whirlwind because I covered a lot of ground in the 36 hours I was there. I arrived Saturday evening, just in time for a night-before-the-wedding party. It was at the Newport Yacht Club - I hadn’t been in there in almost 25 years, and was amazed to see that it had hardly changed at all. And they still have their bizarre ritual of shooting off a miniature - but extraordinarily loud - cannon when they lower the flag at sunset. My step-brother Lew has been living in LA for at least 10 years now, and we’ve seen each other only a handful of times since he moved there. So the party was my first opportunity to get to know some of his friends and bride to be. I had a cold and wasn’t feeling well, but I looked good, which is all that really matters 
(Maria had a nice suit made for me when she was in Vietnam).
On Sunday I still wasn’t feeling great, but I drove up to Boston with my nephew Alexander, brother John, and his girlfriend Miss to visit my grandfather. He’ll turn 94 next month. His health is not good these days, so I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to see him. It was a good visit, but unfortunately the trip there took almost 3 hours in each direction because of horrific traffic (it usually takes less than 2). So I made it back to Newport feeling worn out, and just in time for the start of the wedding at 6pm.
The wedding ceremony was held in the sand at 1st beach (aka Easton’s Beach). It was nicely done, with a great mix of traditions - Lew and Cheryl had a Scottish bagpiper, a friend read an Irish poem, and Lew broke a glass underfoot after the ceremony was complete, which is a Jewish tradition. My step-nephew (if there is such a term) was the ringbearer, and I had one piece of advise for him: don’t drop the ring in the sand!
The reception was also at the beach, in the Rotunda. We also had use of the carousel, which my sister was excited about - I think she rode it half a dozen times.
Then I was back on a plane early Monday morning, and after arriving in Philly, took the train straight to work, to start my first full-time day since I came back from Japan (I had been working part-time while I had the boys and Maria was still in Japan). I enjoyed seeing everyone and was very glad to be there for the wedding - I just wish I had been feeling better.
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