On Sunny Lane: Family Is Priceless

They kept straggling in, one family at a time, until my niece and nephew and his offspring were all together with Sweetheart and me in the hotel where we were staying in Glen Allen VA.

It was Friday morning and the wedding festivities for my great niece were scheduled to begin that evening. There were 14 of us at the hotel—between the ages of five months and 85 years.

For us, the celebration had already begun in the dining room of the hotel at breakfast. It didn’t take long to eat breakfast, but we lingered for two hours. After all, we had nowhere to go and nothing to do until we went to the supper at the wedding facility. So, once we retired to our rooms after breakfast, we watched TV, read the book I picked up at the train station in Cass WV and napped to fill the time gap. It was a relaxing way to spend the day.

For supper, we had three food trucks from which to choose our meal—barbecue, seafood and pizza. We took our food into the reception room and sat down at a table with a family member where there were two vacant chairs across from us. The chairs looked as though they were waiting for their occupants to return. The people who came back turned out to be the wedding couple. So, we had some one-on-one time to catch up on what had happened in our lives in the years since we had last seen each other.

Saturday morning was a repeat of a long, lingering breakfast, then more TV, reading and naps before the afternoon wedding.

It was an outdoor wedding in a lakeside setting, with a backdrop of colorful fall foliage. The acoustics were bad, however, so I was not able to hear the bride’s and groom’s wedding vows. The ceremony was sufficient for them to tie the knot, though, and we all progressed from there to the reception building, where we had another lovely meal.

I was disappointed that Sweetheart and I were not assigned to sit at the table with the rest of the family. Turned out we were to share a table with the preacher who had conducted the ceremony and with the couple’s next-door neighbor. We had a very friendly, animated conversation. When Sweetheart left the table for a few minutes, the preacher said, “Your husband is a very funny guy. I wish he was my neighbor.

I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of their company if we hadn’t been seated at the same table. We still had plenty of time to spend with the family.

So, we had two delicious meals, good conversation and some dancing. The meals were complimentary, of course, but, when I considered that we bought the couple a nice gift; paid for our nights in hotels; spent time and money on the trip, that made the meals very expensive.

But, getting together with family; meeting new people; seeing new horizons is priceless.

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Dorothy is the author of two books—“Miles and Miracles” and “Getting It All Together “. You can purchase a book or send a comment by emailing her at dorothybutzknight@gmail.com