Tim and Mimi's Wedding #2

THE PARENTS' MEET

We found Cathy and Josh and the girls for a late lunch and then went to the hotel to get ready for 'The Meeting of the In-laws". We had never met Tim's parents. There were a couple of holidays over the years the McCarthy's lived in Springfield, MA, when something was planned. But it never happened and then they moved to Florida.

So, Tim and Mimi's plan (and everything about this whole two days went according to Mimi and Tim's plan--which was why it was so wondrous since Tim and Mimi are wondrous) we would take a cab to the corner of Decalb and Morgan (I think it was) to meet up with the McCarthys and Tim and Mimi.

The first cab driver didn't have any idea where Morgan St. (if that was it was) and told us to get out when he turned the first corner. We hailed another cab and took us to Decalb but had no idea where Morgan was and let up out charging only half the fare. I went into a Pizza Place and asked one of the Pizza guys where it was and he said, "go the the corner and take two lefts" and he was right and Mimi was waiting in front of the German place to lead us across the street to another bar because the German place was too loud.

The bar was perfect. So Jim and Bern met Bob and Carol (I can't help finishing that with "Ted and Alice" for those of you who remember). It was a tad awkward but not much and we fell into an easy conversation. I really liked them, which was good. Bob was a bit quiet but Carol is a talker so it all worked out. After having a drink and beginning our relationship, we all walked four blocks to an Italian Restaurant where we met up with Tim's brother and Josh and Cathy and the girls for a family meal that Mr. McCarty insisted on paying for (since it was, I suspect, in his mind the equivalent of the 'rehersal dinner' which in a traditional wedding would be paid for by the groom's parents. But when the two getting married are 39 and 36, all the 'traditions' are off.

(One odd moment, I'd gone to the bathroom at the bar before the restaurant and when I came back I saw a man hugging a woman I thought was Mimi. Since we were expecting Tim's brother, I assumed that's who it was, so I went up and introduced myself. He was polite and said it was good to meet me, but then I saw Mimi still seated and realized the woman only faintly looked like her and the two of them moved past me and on....I wonder what they made of that....)

The meal was great. Tegan fell asleep and Morgan was beginning to fail, but Emma was bright and amazing because she was sitting next to Tim and the girls think of him as a Rock Star of the first degree, so she talked incessantly with him throughout the meal.

Cathy and Bern took the girls to the hotel in a 'car service' (living in NYC means never having to drive and meeting lots of people from other countries in Uber, cabs and car services) while Josh and I went next door to The Mayflower--a bar with no sign that is about the size of our kitchen. We could get 35 people in our kitchen if all the stuff was moved out and that was the limit of the Mayflower. Tim and Mimi had let folks know if they wanted to see them on Marriage Eve they could come there from 8:30 on. And a lot of people did. Bern's cousin Frances and her partner, Cindy, the McCarthys, Jeff, Tim's brother (a real sweetheart), and a lot of what I call 'the Bennington Posse--people in their 30's who went to Bennington College with Tim and Mimi. Tim was a senior when Mimi was a freshman, so most of them knew them both, though some only knew Mimi while in Vermont. But since Mimi and Tim have been together for 13 years (only after meeting up in the Bennington Posse in NYC--all of them knew them both well.) What a great bunch of young people: friendly, smart, successful and in love with both Tim and Mimi.

We had a great time. I got back to the hotel at midnight, in a 'car service' with Josh. Both Bern and I were exhausted and I'd had more white wine than anyone really needs.

We slept. Wedding-Eve was over.