Wedding whoops

Yesterday I mentioned that I missed the wedding I went to New Jersey to attend. It was just one of those things, but why don't I tell you the whole story?

I decided to take the train up to NJ on Wed night. B1 (my eldest brother) picked me up at the train and took me to his place. On Thursday, I rented a car to drive to the wedding (which was south of B1's town). I offered Uncle Marty a ride--either to get him in Manhattan or pick him up somewhere else convenient for him. We determined that he could take the NJ Transit train to B1's town and I'd fetch him at the station and we'd drive down to the wedding together. It's about a 40 min drive. All this was to save him the trouble of coming out the night before and staying with his daughter, who lives in a town near the wedding town.

I picked up the car on Thursday. Got to the station early and had coffee. Waited. Waited. Waited. Train was VERY late. I asked the attendant where it was. He said, "That train was canceled." I couldn't believe it. Canceled! How could that be? I knew we were screwed. I called B1, even though I knew it wouldn't help. Uncle Marty doesn't have my cell number. I called my cousin (the groom's sister), but only have her home number. I left a message.

Uncle Marty was on the next direct train to B1's town. We were about 40 minutes late and completely missed the ceremony. We arrived the moment the bride and groom walked out of the sanctuary.

On Marty's side, this is what happened: He made the train. It pulled out of the station and not five minutes later, lost power. The train died and they were stuck on it. They had to wait for an engine to pull them back to Penn Station. Marty borrowed a cell phone and called his daughter to tell her what was happening. No one called me (but it wouldn't have mattered). So, they did know we were running late. As soon as I met Marty, I gave him my phone and he called his daughter again.

It wasn't until I got back to B1's and my sister-in-law asked, "Why didn't they wait for you?" that I wondered the same thing.

The good news is that no one seemed particularly upset. The groom was in good spirits. Sadly, they seemed to expect such a thing from Uncle Marty. I kept saying, "Blame me! Blame me!"

The rest of the day was fine. The luncheon was pleasant. No dancing, but good food and a small crowd (35 folks). I spent a lot of time getting to know Emily (the daughter of the sister of the groom), who took a shine to me.

I had a good time with the kid (who is 4 ½). We played and talked. Eventually, she asked me, "Are you a grown up? I think you're a kid. You're not a grown up."

I said, "I'm a grown up."

Emily said, "But you're not as big as them. You're not big enough to be a grown up."

I said, "Yes I am! I'm as big as them."

She said, "Nooo. But you might be a teenager. You're a teenager."

I said, "You know, I'm older than your mommy."

That didn't merit a response--she merely scoffed in disbelief.

I love that she thought I was a kid. I think it's because I don't talk down to kids, rather than any particularly youthful appearance.

After the lunch, we went back to the newlyweds' house (they've been living together for years) and hung out. Uncle Marty refused a ride from me to anywhere and I drove myself home to B1's via the Garden State Parkway. I didn't even get lost.

Grateful for: family.

Funny man

You may recall that my Uncle Marty got me a jean jacket for my birthday. I sent him a thank you note the other day via email:

Thank you so much for the denim jacket. It's great! I wore it on my birthday and a couple of other times already. Apparently, denim jackets are the hip thing--how did you know? It fits well and I like it a lot.

He responded:

Glad to hear the gift was a success. I thought you realized I'm up on all the latest fads. Next hot item is the cell phone!

Uncle Marty cracks me up. Also, he does not own a cell phone.

Grateful for: humor.

Drop me a line.

Strange gifts

Lord love him, my Uncle Marty has made some strange gift-giving choices over the years. He is obliged, by agreement with my mom, to give me a Hannukah (or Christmas, as he calls it) and a birthday present. I do the same for him. Mom does the same for my cousins. No gifts are exchanged between cousins, though I do get a holiday card from the one with a kid.

I never know what Marty is going to get me. It's usually clothing and it's often horrible. The last couple of years he's had a pretty good run--he brought me a beautiful burgundy paisly shawl from India and a black cable knit crewneck sweater from Land's End. He also got me a baby blue (!) cashmere v-neck sweater from Filene's Basement. He originally got it for me in black, size medium. He showed his daughter (my cousin) and she told him to take it back and get me a large (grr).  When he went back, there was only an EXTRA large in blue left. I usually wear a medium in sweaters, depending on the cut, and a black, v-neck cashmere sweater would have gotten a lot more wear than the baby blue number. Anyway, it's nice and I wear it sometimes, but it's awful baggy.

This year, he stumped me with a present of a baby blue (again!) velour warm-up jacket. It's very '70s and almost ugly enough to be cool but mostly it's just bizarre. Needless to say, I thanked him profusely.

So, last night, when I got home and found an LL Bean package waiting for me, I figured it was from Dad or Uncle Marty. When I picked it up, it was unexpectedly heavy. I opened it and I saw denim. I thought, "Jeans? Could he possibly have bought me jeans?" That would have been mighty odd, even for Uncle Marty. When I got the package completely unwrapped, I realized that it was a jacket.

A jean jacket.

Is it just me, or is this a weird present? I haven't had a jean jacket since I was in the eighth grade. Are they back in style now?

In the eighth grade I had a lot of rules about jeans and jean jackets. First, boys could only wear Levis. In the seventh grade, the boys were still wearing high-waisted, tight, "flood" jeans. So ugly. Over the school year, most of the boys turned over their wardrobes and started wearing Levi 501s, button fly. Very good looking, not as tight and much cooler. The girls were wearing Guess jeans (if they could afford it) ASmiles slacks (remember those, anyone?) and, eventually, Levis. I also recall owning tight overwashed turquoise jeans, with zippers, and tight black jeans--with zippers! Neither of those pairs of tight jeans were quite as tight as the "skinny jeans" now popular.

With all the denim options for girls, I decided, based on what I'm not sure, that there were rules about mixing brands of jackets and pants. For example, you could wear a Levis jacket with Levis jeans ONLY. But a Levis jacket could be worn with other slacks OR non-Levis colored jeans. Under no circumstances, however, could a Levis jacket be worn with Guess jeans. (Do you think this had anything to do with the fact that I never owned a pair of Guess jeans?) Those were the rules and I followed them. And I sneered at those who didn't.

I currently own two pairs of "blue" jeans, neither of which are Levis and both of which have wide legs. (The 14-year-old me is hanging her head in shame.) Oddly, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable wearing this non-matching denim jacket with them. Is that done now? It's not like I'm pairing non-Levis with Levis. I haven't owned any Levis in years and years. Still, I don't like to be too matchy-matchy and jeans with a jean jacket might be too much.

When I tried on the jacket, much to my surprise, it actually fit. And it looked...cute. The cut and style were exactly like the one I had in junior high--two breast pockets, but no hand pockets. Button tabs at the back waist and the wrists. I think I'll keep the jacket. It fits, it's cute and it's kind of a hoot.

Thanks Uncle Marty.

Grateful for: birthday presents.

Drop me a line.