en mi familia

In the midst of the hundreds of little details to get ready for the wedding (of which the most ridiculous is planting bamboo poles in terra cotta pots filled with Plaster of Paris), it is tempting to forget that for one precious moment in life everyone we love is gathered in a wonderful celebration focused on us. Over the past week the festivities have started in earnest. Last Friday we had a Kirkbride shower featuring wine, cheese, toasts and generous gifts. It's so seldom that everyone is able to get together, especially without all of the little children that our clan is currently sporting. One set of cousins I hadn't seen for over two years. Ben and I both agreed that there isn't a way we could have celebrated that we would have enjoyed more. Wine+cheese+thoughtful conversation+wonderful meal beforehand prepared by my cousin Michelle+laughter=Perfection. Hannah striking a glamorous, "I've been abroad for the year and have learned so much about the world and its ways," pose. Just kidding. There was great light on her at our Kirkbride Wine and Cheese wedding shower and so Ben and I took two dozen pictures of her. She is lovely. Here is Grandpa Ken, the patriarch of the ever-growing Kirkbride clan. He is 86-years-old and still wears his cowboy boots everywhere but in his bed. He toasted Ben and me, "Health, happiness, and may all your troubles be little." Ben's nephew Noah; a great favorite with his uncle, and everyone else. He is five-years-old and fills the house with the ABC's Song in his high little boy voice, along with talk of Thomas the Train. At this moment he is keeping our big black dog, Sully, company under the kitchen table.