Thirteen Years Ago - The Eve

I was still up thirteen years ago at this time. In fact, I didn't go to sleep until after 3 a.m. I was making three mix tapes of some of my favorite music: from this album by David Foster, Ennio Morricone's music, Nat King Cole's standards, showtunes interpreted by Streisand here and there [I did make a mistake and put "Move on," not once but twice -- this is a song about separation, not union], and, of course marvelous Brazilian music by Ivan Lins, João Gilberto, Chico Buarque, Caetano Veloso, Zizi Possi, and others.

These were my wedding reception mix tapes, the very first and last I ever created (I don't know why I sometimes prefer to listen to whole CDs and not mixed stuff. I haven't yet gotten into ipod and digital music at all, I know, strange...).

I slept well and deeply once I was done. I was never calmer in my life. a "miracle" in and of itself. I've inherited my mom's genes and I've always been anxious and nervous, but in the year that led to my wedding I literally prayed for peace and calm and it happened. As the hectic year end came to a close the calmer I became -- a surprising fact given the nerve-wracking circumstances.

1994 was our last year at the university (my 5th and K's 7th) and we scheduled our wedding for the end of the school year (December in Brazil), before our summer vacation, since we had to go back to teach beginning in February. However, earlier that year there was a two month long strike among the university professors and personnel that lasted from late May to July/August (K lost a semester and subsequently missed a whole year in 1988 because of a longer strike) and we were afraid that the school year was going to spill into January and our wedding plans would be ruined. Thankfully, though, the first semester concluded in August (first semester is from March-June, July is a month of break, 2nd semester from August-Nov) and the second went up to literally days before the wedding. I handed in my very last paper on Tuesday, had the city marriage on Thursday and church wedding on Sunday. But I remained calm through it all and was able to plan the wedding in minute details.

We like to be as unique as possible, so with the help of a computer whiz friend we designed our own "quirky" invitations -- printed on light green paper and with bamboo leaves as a background. We also planned a day time wedding -- something unheard of in Brazil where everyone loves a wedding at night for some reason (tough in the summer since it has to start at 8 pm and then it goes on really late into the night, awful for people with children) -- this has changed in those past 13 years and now more people do that. We did it because we didn't like late dinners and we wanted to serve a lunch (lunch is the main meal in Brazil actually, more like dinner here), so we scheduled it for 11 a.m. (of course I was a little bit more than fashionably late, but hopefully I'll share that part "tomorrow," I mean, later today :). In short, we wanted our wedding to reflect who we were and the relationship we had with our friends and family.

It was a HUGE affair. 400 invitations were handed and we calculate that between 500-600 people attended the ceremony and reception afterwards. It was just as it should be, a most perfect day, but that's what I hope to share later, after I get to scan some more photos [that's why I didn't post last year on our 12th anniversary :( ]. Our scanner situation is a little tricky right now, but I'll do my best since I really want to share that day with you!!

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Tomorrow we're going to Philly with the boys. I purchased tickets for Renoir's exhibit at the Museum of Art. I hope the boys enjoy it. I'm already thinking of a bribe so they behave. I think it's key that they have their tummies full. Too bad that when they think of museums they automatically think of this one. :( Not too far away, but not the museum I want to go to tomorrow... Wish us luck!!