A Sunny Summer Weekend in Monterey

It's oxymoronic on its face - there are always clouds and fog and cool ocean breezes in Monterey in the summer.  My backless yellow filmy dress for the reception was aggressively summery... until it was absolutely perfect.

We left Arizona under lowering clouds.  We returned to thunderstorms.  In between, we had nothing but sunshine.  It may have been a little overcast on Saturday morning, but we slept late and had a lovely breakfast and by the time we were ready to venture toward the beach there were clear skies overhead.  After spending Friday afternoon poolside with our books and sunglasses, a second day of brightness was an unexpected pleasure.

The bride and groom certainly deserved it. 

They took care of the entire event.  Calling themselves geographic mutts, their guest list involved travel from Washington, DC, Pittsburgh, Illinois, Boston, California, and points across the Atlantic.  Everyone would have to travel, so the kids chose a place that made them smile, offending everyone and no one at the same time.

It was brilliant.

Big Cuter was in the wedding party; we found one another after his rehearsal dinner, on the terrace at The Lodge at Pebble Beach, for cocktails and dessert.  There's nothing more wonderful than coming upon your child when he is surrounded by people who know him, and love him, and seeing him reflect their feelings, returning them ounce for ounce.  The bride and groom surrounded themselves with important people from their pasts and their presents. For years, stories had been told about people who had never met but felt they'd known one another all along. 

It was certainly that way for the bride and me. I don't know what she's heard about me, but I know a lot about her. She and the groom sat with Big Cuter in January, 2011.  Last year, she and Big Cuter spent a much-storied afternoon wine tasting in Napa, while others were more significantly, albeit no doubt less self-indulgently, engaged.  She's able to keep up her end of any sports conversation.  She writes a terrific Get Well note; one of her Thank You notes is in my permanent collection.  I know where she works and went to school and her address is on the Brownie List. 

Last Friday was the first time we saw one another, live, in the flesh.  I can now add she gives great hugs to the list above.

She and her new husband also invite great guests.  TBG and I spent the afternoon and evening with friends of the groom's parents.  Families needing to sit with families moved the four of us next to one another for the ceremony. TBG and I snagged comfy chairs under a lovely umbrella for cocktails and passed hors d'oeuvres; they took the two seats remaining with smiles all around when we realized we were seated at the same table for dinner. 

Big Cuter kept us all supplied with refreshments and back stories and an interesting treatise on Big Law. It was not the first time, nor would it be the last time, that topic came up. They are 20- and 30-somethings, right on the cusp, figuring it out, making five year plans.

But that was only one backdrop to the joining of two lives.  There was the setting, on the green of the fifth hole, and it seems that with only five weddings a year the membership doesn't mind the fact that the fifth hole was closed for a few hours last Saturday, in the late afternoon. 

No members looked askance at the golf carts filled with neckties and heels inappropriate to the terrain.  Spikes work better when they are evenly dispersed along the sole of the shoe.  This is especially true when ambulating on grass. Wedges fared somewhat better, but those of us in flats were feeling fairly smug, I must admit.

I was glad that my mouse shoes, born purchased to assuage the hole in my heart when gunshots separated me from my high heels, had rubber soles, and a strap behind my ankle.  They were as close to sneakers as dress shoes can be, and I've already worn sneakers with that dress.

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The food and wine were chosen with care.  There was something for everyone, from bacon to figs. Stoli and Ketel One and Grey Goose, beers of all hops and malts, Diet Coke and cold sparkling water for those who had to drive. Big Cuter was raving about the vegetables well into the evening; I was focused on the roasted toasted peach nestled next to the greens and the melted cheese. I had peach melba at Sans Souci in 1973; until last Saturday night that had been my standard for cooked fruit. I wish I could package the taste for you, denizens....

 

The bride's gown was everything a bride's gown should be - flattering, with just as much sparkle as she desires, able to withstand vigorous dancing with nary a tug, allowing for the flinging of arms around the necks of parents of friends who are saying goodbye.  The groom held her hand, and we shared a married people moment, and then she was whisked away by the dancing and the love and the music and the love.....

 

Oh, denizens, there was so much love.