Halloooo, Memorial Day weekend! A three day weekend to relax and unwind, and attend a wedding. Sibi and I used to go to church together for many years, from when I was in junior high school through a portion of college. In the middle of my college years, the church itself closed up, and he and I went to separate churches. In the intervening years, he’s gone on to medical school and became an anesthesiologist. Dr. Sibi John? Who would have known? We had very intermittent contact these past 10 years, so I was suprised to learn he was getting married, and I was invited. I’m not one to turn down an invitation to a party, so we were in it to win it.
On Saturday, we bathed our two rugrats, dressed ’em up, and made our way to Long Island for Sibi & Ruby’s wedding. One of the things I dislike in life is making my way to Long Island. The place is a driver’s nightmare if you can’t stand being stuck in traffic. We hit traffic approaching the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, specifically the left-hand side going to the upper level. Noting the right lane was slowly moving (towards the lower level) and fearful of being stuck, and seeing one paramedic SUV head up on the shoulder, I said screw it, and made a bold move. I drove sideways across bridge traffic, through cars and traffic cones, and made my way into the lower level. What a good crazy decision that was, as we saw people standing and waiting on the upper level. I don’t know what happened, nor did I care. I didn’t want to get stuck on a bridge with two kids in the car.
We made the wedding, but the church was packed. We watched via live video in the adjacent fellowship hall. I didn’t mind since you had a better view, and the hall was air-conditioned. That’s a no-brainer in my book. We saw a lot of old friends that we hadn’t seen in a while too, which was nice. The wedding reception was at the fancy Villa Lombardi’s in Holbrook, NY. What I found to be a funny coincidence was that two of my friends, Nehal and Meghal, who DJ’d our wedding in 2003, were providing entertainment for this wedding too. Imagine our surprise, and when I went up to them, they were surprised to see us as well.
So, to wrap up, good time for everyone. It was certainly a long day. By 10pm or so, we got the car, changed the kids in the restrooms to the pajamas, brushed their teeth, and bundled them up in the car for the long ride home. We got home after midnight, but at least there was no traffic back to NJ. Best of all, a nice new family portrait.