Circle of Life

I had an interesting weekend, which seemed to encompass the entire life cycle in two short days. (Cue Baby Simba being presented to the entire animal kingdom here.) We started in Key West on Saturday morning, after driving down a slew of IKEA cabinets from the mainland on Friday. Following the new member service at Congregation B’nai Zion (we are new members) we hopped in the car for a slow 5-hour drive to Palm Beach for a wedding at the Ritz-Carlton. Being a sometimes-cheapskate, I opted to stay at the Palm Beach Oceanfront Inn, just 3/10 mile away from the wedding venue, and about $200 less expensive. Big mistake.

So we checked in to the fleabag hotel and got ready for life cycle event #1 of the weekend. The wedding was absolutely beautiful. From the gorgeous flower-covered chuppah to the fabulous food and loud, but otherwise good band, the event was truly magnificent. I give the bad an extra point for knowing all of the words to Sweet Home Alabama, which is more than I can say for the band at my wedding. Good – and appropriate – toasts all around. No toasts made mention of any fetishes, or ex-whatevers, so right there we are ahead of the game. (Of course I only bring it up because I have heard such a toast. It wasn’t pretty, I assure you.) The whole event seemed to go off without a hitch and I hope the bride and groom will be very happy.

Note to self: do not wear 4-inch heels while experiencing major knee issues; it will end in you marching barefoot along the road back to an icky hotel while cursing loudly.

Sunday morning we were off to meet the 6-week-old child of friends, while

indulging in a really good breakfast. The newborn is adorable and her parents could not be happier. Well, her parents could not be happier that there were some other people to entertain the child for a little while, anyway. They are a little too sleep deprived to even know if they are happy or not. (They are.) Although she does seem to be a well behaved baby, we did learn that she has a good, loud set of lungs on her. Perhaps a career in singing is in her future? We will see.

We left the child, and her parents to head south for the funeral of another friend’s father who died suddenly last week. As we sat in the very crowded sanctuary, we heard

five eulogies, each of which were both heartwarming and humorous. It definitely helps to have a whole family of good public speakers for such an occasion. There was a lot of laughing and good storytelling here.

The weekend ended with dinner with my family, which was delightful and delicious (Chicken Marsala, if you must know). After such an eventful and truly exhausting weekend, I am ready for one when I get to do nothing. It seems unlikely that will be anytime soon.