It’s getting to be a few weeks ago now that a well-wishing band of Tamers took a little trip down to Tacoma to witness the vows of one of our own. Terry Crawford took the vows of matrimony with his lovely bride Susan Pierce. And you know she was lovely, because prior to the ceremony – that’s about all Terry could keep uttering, in a sort of “Wow – am – I – a – lucky – guy” type of dreamy voice – “Susan is beautiful!”. And she was! Now – here is where you can tell this is a guy writing this review – as I have to actually think of the color of her dress. Women would know this without a blink. I’m thinking it was a spaghetti strap dress, burgundy in color. Right ladies? (Mary says it was royal blue, and now that she says that – I’m inclined to agree with her.) Another part of my mind is thinking turquoise – but maybe that was Terry’s tie. Of course – being long before Memorial Day – turquoise would just be too flashy for a winter color……
The ceremony was a tad atypical in format, in that we gathered for a reception of sorts in advance of the service. A buffet of snacks was available, and we were tormented with having to just gaze at the cupcakes instead of eating them along with the meal. Gary TJ and I were all set to do a little trailblazing by starting the cupcake brigade – but then knuckled under to the sign prominently displayed that said cupcakes were for later. (Yes mother……)
But the time did afford us to do things that Tamers do pretty well – which was to hang out and yak and catch up. One particularly sunburned contingent appeared to be reliving trail tales from the recent trip to Johnson Valley. But of greater note in my locale was the presence of our newest Tamer, Isabella Van Petton. Being just a little handful – she was passed around, mainly between the ladies. Now – Auto M tends to be of the opinion that Isabella is so cute and beautiful, that she just couldn’t be the offspring of our rough and tumble fair haired Karl. But – of course – that smacks of impugning Ruth’s reputation – unless, of course, you believe in immaculate conception. And possibly – this could be the case, as Ruth’s long term matrimonial association with Karl probably is her first step on the way to sainthood……
Ah – but it was not only us who was being taken in by Isabella’s spell. She also got a little quality holding time from Penny. Now – it must be on someone’s facebook page by now – under some small amount of protestation – Penny deftly placed Isabella in the awkward arms of Tom. You could hear his mouth say, “no-no” but his brain was screaming, “NOOOOOOOOO.” But he did not drop the dear child, which is much to his credit. Pictures for future blackmail were snapped, and then back to Penny the babe went.
What could she be thinking? What thoughts were spinning in Penny’s mind as she gazed onto the little bundle of wonderfulness? I can venture a few guesses. Perhaps a side business for Tom-Tom’s Off Road Fabrication. Yeah – “Tom-Tom’s Off-Road Fab and Fertility Clinic – Creating Wheelers One Gene Splice at a Time.” Or “Tom-Tom’s Off Road Fab – Creating Rock Crawlers and Crumb Crawlers since the start of the 21st Century.”
You could just see Penny’s wheels turning. “Yeah – that could work.” Then, with a start, she briefly returned to a more objective and practical reality. “What am I thinking? The nest is almost empty, the children gone. Michael’s out of the house and on his own. But yes – there still is Chad. Hmmmm.” Then the “Eureka!” moment. “Chad! Built in babysitter!!!!!!! Booyah!!!!!!”
I don’t believe even that broke the spell. But leaving Penny to her own private thoughts, it came on time for the wedding. A band of young men played a few tunes to corral the crowd, and if I captured things correctly – I think the church building and many people there were Susan’s church family, and the minister doing the service had an association with Terry. So we all settled down for the vows and exchange of rings – and as is almost always the case, the rings almost never go on during the ceremony. Something about the excitement and the bit of nervousness, and sweaty fingers and handholding – I think it just causes your fingers to swell a bit. I believe Terry got Susan’s ring on, but his took a little more work. (You know, Terry – a little WD-40 would have helped that.) The rings were eventually put in place and the nuptials finished and they were united as a couple with Terry’s joyous smile lighting up the room.
It was still a sunny, yet cold late afternoon when the newly united couple piled into the back of a styling, bright screaming red drop top 1st generation 60’s vintage Mustang. Fortunately – the blankets were at the ready, and Terry and Susan were chauffeured off to parts unknown for what we all hoped would be a delightful 1st evening as a wedded couple.
After they took off and they crowd began to thin – some Tamers settled on meeting for dinner up at Café Veloce in Totem Lake. Chad, having ridden down on his big red Harley was all for it – as apparently – you show up on a bike, you get a meal discount. Gary TJ, of course, was up for any place that served MEAT. And the plan actually had started with John celebrating his birthday dinner with his favorite cuisine. Something about how he said he was looking forward to having Italian for his birthday caused Gina to turn a shade of red that ranged somewhere between the varied crimson hues of her purse, her leather jacket and her fingernails. That’s just the type of thing that happens when you get a bunch of Tamers together – on the trail of love.
Moose.