The wine was Chianti made a year ago by a family friend, it was great. I was hoping that I would leave with a bottle of my own, but no luck...it was all gone.
The cookies were phenomenal. As I wrote yesterday, the Italian cookie table is paramount and this cookie table created a flash mob like no other. Truly, the unleashing of this cookie table would have made a great scene in a movie. The guests sat waiting for this table to be unveiled, and when the cloth that covered the table was removed all you could do was hold onto the grandma next to you for dear life. The crowd went crazy.
I went home with no wine but I have sitting in front of me, as I write this, three containers of cookies, one container solely holding cream stuffed pizzelles. Will I share them with a five year old? Probably not, we’re not that close when it comes to cookies....ok, there are two additional boxes, if her mother shares I am sure she will get a cookie or two. To0 bad we weren't able to come home with the wine, she could have had that.
This wedding day had more kissing and hugging than any other wedding I have attended in all my years. It was a full circle of celebrating love, life and family. This is what weddings must have been like in the old days before weddings became an industry. Hugs, kisses, cookies and wine, it’s a amore.
I saw friends that I have not seen in twenty years. I re-introduced myself to a lot of people, the older of them by saying, “Remember me? I was your paperboy”.
I grew up in a small town with extended family living all around me and with more friends than a kid could play with. We spent all of our time at a local ballpark playing sports all year round. Only two rules: if you hit the ball over the fence you go get it, and be home when the street lights come on. It was a youth guided by a fellowship of friends....we would all grow up and move to different parts of the world. But last night we were home.
A wedding brings you home if only for a weekend, if only for a day of holding a camera in my hands. Home, it is a bunch of different places for me now. Today it’s being in a house with my wife, daughter and 3 containers of homemade Italian cookies. Last night it was being in a room with lots of memories.
It’s always good to be home.
