Austyn was settled in her new little place. She and Brian were experiencing living in the same city for more than a weekend. I had made plane reservation for my mother and I to fly out in order to finish up the last of the reception invites as well as taking care of a few details for the wedding.
Mom and I arrived at the Denver airport with little problem. Austyn met us and we headed out to the parking lot. Brian and Austyn had purchased a older jeep Cherokee in preparation for their excursion north to Alaska. Our family is not known for their mechanical abilities so purchasing older automobiles has added risk. Helpless to fix them ourselves, we are reliant on a shop to do so. This is not the case for Brian, I guess if you can fix an airplane, autos don’t scare you.
As we walked out I was eying the vehicles wondering which was theirs. With great excitement, Austyn introduced us to Ruff. Ruff was a green, 1999 vehicle. Obvious worn and used. This was going to take them to Alaska? A ten day trip though who knows where. I had a flashback of my dad, eyes closed shaking his head in unbelief anytime we shared with him our hair brain ideas.
We arrived at her condo, it was full of boxes. Gifts had been arriving, Austyn had not totally unpacked, Brian was beginning to bring his things over and items were being set aside that needed to be taken to the wedding. Austyn is a photographer which requires computers, printers and work spaces larger than normal. All to say their little condo was already overflowing.
The week was filled with walks to the cafe’ in the morning for coffee, lattes, fresh cinnamon rolls and mini quiches that were to die for.
Austyn’s future Mother-in-Law treated us to an old fashion tea party served in the elegance of a historical bed and breakfast. Dress up clothes were provided and we did. Fake fur collars, hats with netting, jewelry and gloves were all part of the festivities. An afternoon with the ladies was enjoyed by all.
The purpose of the week was to send out the invitations for the reception planned in Wisconsin and Colorado. Grandma did her share in the addressing because of her lovely penmanship. Stamps were sought out. The stamp selection in the spring of 2008 left a lot to be desired. The love stamps were pink hearts, nice but no at all reflective of Austyn. There were a few others, old boat, tropical fruit but nothing that seemed to fit. When you have spent time designing an invitation, selecting the right color for the envelope and matching the ink color of the pen, the stamp suddenly takes on a new importance. We finally decided on the retro stamp of old blue eye himself, Frank Sinatra.
The week flew by and it was time to return home. One more time to say good bye. The next time we would be together would be in Chicago as we loaded the vehicles that would be making the 18 hour road trip to Holden Beach, NC. One would have thought that with as many times as we had said good bye in this last year, it would be easy…it wasn’t.
You forgot to mention telling grandma to get her ass up into that jeep. And how we all laughed when she finally said it herself:) Gosh. It was a wonderful week.