Drawing from the old adage, a picture is worth a thousand words, indulge me in sharing photos and videos from our 50th Anniversary Party.
NB: The photos are primarily candids and not everyone at the party ended up in the photos or the group shots, so if you are reading this and you're not in the photos, please know that the omission was not intentional. Blame it on me; I wasn't organized enough to ask Jake (the photographer) to take specific photos so lots of the crowd photos were 'on the fly.' I'm also grateful for those of you who said, "Get a picture with me!" I was hoping for a photograph with my children, spouses/significant other/grandchildren and we'll be returning to the park sometime in the fall for that, so you see how that goes.
But be that as it may, I think as you scroll through, you, too might feel yourself submerged in love, which is truly the highest and the best I could ever wish for you.
As my mother might have said, Enjoy.
Dance as an expression of love. And joy. And celebration. And exuberance. Elation. Exaltation.
Girl Power!
I love the expression on Jack's face, as if he can't believe he finds himself in the middle of this. Note our lovely cousin, Nicole Nicpon in magenta dress, who led the dancing crowd as Kindergarten Teacher Nicole (which she is).
Tom (formerly referred to in this blog as He Who Must Not Be Named), Bridget, Mary, Dan, Maggie, Molly
Mary, Dan, my youngest cousin on my Mom's side, Joe,
and his main squeeze, CeCe
Pete O'Neill, Maggie's husband; Maggie; Kitty Rogers O'Brien, Tom's wife; Tom; Heidi Jensen, our daughter from another mother and Dan's proclaimed favorite daughter; Bridget; Darin Mastroianni, Bridget's husband; Molly Bahneman; Cameron Gross, Molly's significant other
Ace Mastroianni; Bridget; Darin; Karen; John McManus; McB Smith McManus; Jeanie; Marty Luft; Marcy Smith Luft; Ethan O'Brien; Beau Bahneman; Jameson O'Neill; MaggieRose Luft; Caitlin McManus; Sloane Mastroianni; Maggie; Luke Luft; Pete; Lillie McManus; Lucy Luft; Tom; Kitty; Molly; Jackson Bahneman; Tyson Smith; Cam; Millie O'Brien; Eleanor Smith
There will be a quiz.
The O'Smithsky Matriarchs: Karen Schuss Rowinsky, Mary Parys O'Brien, Jean Douglas Smith
The Looks of Love
Tom read i thank You God for most this amazing, which was read at our wedding as well as his. My daughter-in-law, Kitty, told me she never knew that poem had been read at our wedding before hers.
Grandson Ethan was moved to illustrate the poem, which he shared as his dad read. Tears are a powerful look of love.
as is laughter
and yes, that's Deacon Jean Douglas Smith conducting the
vow renewal ceremony
Forever friends
This is one of my bridesmaids, Felicia Kruzel Pzekota. We met as freshmen in high school, Notre Dame for Girls, Chicago. We share wedding dates--she and John married a year after we did and I was the only non-family member in her bridal party of 9 bridesmaids.
Joe Hernandez. We've been friends since high school.
Janet Miller Hernandez. We met in 3rd grade at St. Ferdinand in Chicago. Yes, she's married to Joe.
Joanie Neudorf Solari. We met in 3rd grade, St. Ferd's. She, Jannie, Felicia and I all went to Notre Dame to high school.
John Przekota. If I remember correctly, he and some of his buddies picked me and another friend up as we were walking home from a carnival, not sure if it was high school or early college. So I knew him before Felicia did.
This past winter, while in Florida, Dan (the spouse for the uninitiated) went home for a long weekend, leaving me solo, with the dog. When I told friends who also have been married a substantial amount of time that I would be alone, pretty much to a person their comment was along the lines of how nice it would be to single. Not beholding to anyone else, checking in about what he was doing, should I be doing it with him, here is something we have planned to do together (which I have told you multiple times already), etc. The peace and quiet of solitary confinement. The space you usually share now being private, unnecessary to jockey for position in any one place. I thought that, too. It would be so nice to be by myself, if only for a couple days. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary while Dan was gone, perhaps cooking a couple one pot meals that I very much like and are not on the top of his culinary list. And it was okay, him being gone. But when I pick...
I haven't been blogging much lately, taking out my frustrations and anger primarily at the political slice of our world through what I consider pithy comments on Instagram. If you are so inclined, you can follow me at Bigtenmom2000, the moniker harkening back to the turn of this century when we had three collegians at three separate Big Ten (then only the Big 11) institutions of higher learning. Their respective educations have proven to serve them relatively well, important I believe to point out since the value of certain fields of study is currently being raked through the coals. Anyhow, enough about that. Over the past nine years that we have Snowbirded in Florida, our time has taken on a relatively distinct rhythm. The earliest 6 weeks can be chilly by Florida standards, disappointing by a Snowbird's measure. If you're parking your butt approximately 1400 miles south in a place advertising itself as the Sunshine State, you're expecting to see po...
+ heart. Leader: "God is Good." People: "All the Time." Leader: "All the Time." People: "Good is Good." Usually when I/we travel, I blog every night as a way to commit to memory what happened that day. On this most recent trip, the Faith and Democracy Pilgrimage to Philadelphia and New York City, our days were so jam packed that by the time we finished our daily itinerary, all I could think of was crawling into bed since the next morning's early call would be coming all too soon. In fact, on this trip, I believe I saw more combination sunrise/sunsets than I have in years due to the 7 a.m. departures and 8 p.m. returns. Thus, no daily blogs. Now, a test of my recollection of where we went, what we saw and did and impact of same over the past week. So, a Pilgrimage. By definition, a pilgrimage is a journey to a place associated with someone or something well respected. It also can be seen as a journey to a holy place leading to a person...
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