First family wedding

The first next-generation wedding on my husband's side of the family happened this past weekend in Chicago. The five of us, and Grammy, flew there, spending five days of hilarity, love, and togetherness. Of course, chaos reigned. How could it not when you have twenty-one people family members together in one place?

• We left early in the morning. My SIL told us to get Grammy a wheelchair. FYI - the wheelchair kiosk isn't staffed that early. We had to simply take one, hoping the wheelchair stamp on Grammy's ticket would get us out of an arrest. 

• Ohare is a HUGE airport. I feel we walked the entire place looking for the car rental. With all of our baggage, plus Grammy in the wheelchair, half of us took elevators while the other half took the escalators. Eventually, a nice airport worker assisted us with minimal eye rolling. We had to hop a tram that drove us miles to another section of the airport. We hiked through the cold garages and secured our van.
• Nancy whipped up a gourmet salmon meal. Grammy had legs cramps (she insisted it was from all the sitting) and she drank pickle juice. I almost vomited watching her drink it. We then turned her over to her other son and his husband for the next several days as we were staying in different locations.
• My nephew had a soccer game that night. He's the goalie. Several people went off to watch that.  
• There were several scheduled events starting the next day. The first was a ladies only outdoor bridal luncheon. Before the men dropped us off for that, my nephew broke his wrist at his Saturday soccer practice, and we had to chase down his father so he could meet him at the urgent care.
• At the luncheon, I was at the table with Grammy, who got stung by a bee. Having watched General Hospital all these years, I was able to save her. I went to the kitchen and asked the chef for a bowl of baking soda, mixed it with water, and pasted it on Grammy's finger. The other guests, including the doctor bride-to-be and her doctor bridal party, were none the wiser that a medical situation was taking place.

• Earlier in the week, we had a discussion on people thinking Maddy and Darcy are twins. Madison told us that ever since her UNC days when she was mistaken constantly for a red headed girl on campus, she got in the habit of pretending she knew people. At the luncheon while people were arriving, this woman walked in and immediately went to Madison, exclaiming loudly how great it was to see her. Maddy played along, and Darcy and I, forgetting her earlier comments, tried desperately to place this woman. Right as they went to hug each other, the woman realized she didn't know Madison. Turns out, it was my SIL's good friend. She thought Maddy was Olivia, Maddy's red haired cousin.
• The second activity that day was the rehearsal dinner. We volunteered to decorate and with the amount of people, had it done in ten minutes. There were tons of people indoors and outdoors and the waitresses had a hard time getting people to take the appetizers, so they would bring them to me because I sat in a corner far away from germs. The cousins all came to me for food. Later, we had a rousing game of cornhole. My team won.
• Somehow, we managed to dress ten people with only three bathrooms and get out the door in time for the wedding. It went off without a hitch. Mark and Em are now married! Darcy made us all line up to take photos outside for our Christmas card. If you're on the list, you'll see those come December.

• The reception was tons of fun. I changed into sneakers. Best thing I did! The dance floor was never empty. Grammy found a piano and people thought she was part of the entertainment during the appetizer portion of the reception. She danced with the groom. We ate filet mignon that was as big as my fist. Cocktails flowed. After we left, well after midnight, Tom ran through a McDonalds because the youngsters were hungry! How???

• The next day there was a pizza luncheon. We were late to that. No one was very motivated to get moving for pizza after Big Mac's at one o'clock. I just wanted to watch the start of Sunday football. But we made it, crammed into tables with strangers, ate pizza, salad, and pasta, and took photos afterward.

• The next day we lounged, enjoyed breakfast, and then accepted Grammy again and headed to Ohare. Grammy refused a wheelchair this time and walked. She did not have leg cramps that evening. The flight back was uneventful. We all agreed it was a fabulous weekend!

Congrats to Mark and Emily! May you have a wonderful new life as a couple!