Monday, December 24, 2007
Wedding in Negril, Jamaica
On Saturday, December 15, 2007 at sunset (4:00 p.m.), my precious daughter Juanita and the love of her life, Antonio Grant, were wed in a beautiful garden gazebo in the Couples Swept Away Resort in Negril, Jamaica. Her maid of honor was Ms. Bobbi Curry, her best friend. Her bridesmaids were her first cousin and my niece Rebecca, Antonio's sister Claudine, and Juanita's friend from college Mia. Her flower girl stepped ahead of her, scattering rose petals in her path as Juanita's father escorted her to the altar. The resort priest, Rev. Rose, officiated in the ceremony. After the wedding, Juanita and Antonio signed official documents registering their marriage and guests toasted them with champagne, offering well wishes to the happy couple. The wedding reception and dinner followed at 7 p.m. in the ballroom above one of the resort restaurants -- Patios. As mother of the bride, I was seated at table one along with Juanita's father, my sister Kate, her husband Jim, their daughter Katie, Antonio's step mother, and Antonio's aunt Valerie. After a delicious catered meal, Juanita and Antonio cut their cake and shared with the guests. Then she in her wedding gown and Antonio in his white suit danced together. Guests joined them in dancing and celebrating. It was a very happy time for us all.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Grandma Sings and Prays at Rehearsal Dinner
Friday night, December 14th, we gathered for the rehearsal dinner at another restaurant on the resort property. I had missed the rehearsal at the wedding gazebo that afternoon because I had read the itinerary incorrectly. Juanita was visibly upset with me when I arrived at 5 p.m. after everyone had already left except for her maid of honor and her father who was wondering where I was. I begged Juanita's forgiveness and hugged her, assuring her that I was doing the best I could and that I had just misread the itinerary.
Once we all convened at the rehearsal dinner, Antonio's grandmother offered to give the blessing since no one else volunteered. We all joined hands in a circle and to everyone's surprise, instead of praying, she began to sing, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus." Those of us who knew the words joined in, after which grandmother prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and then prayed some more until Antonio had to shout AMEN! But grandmother kept right on praying. Antonio's groomsmen came to the rescue with a chorus of AMENS signaling us to sit down. Oblivious to their calls, grandmother remained standing and continued to pray until Antonio gently escorted her to her seat thanking her for her blessing.
Once we all convened at the rehearsal dinner, Antonio's grandmother offered to give the blessing since no one else volunteered. We all joined hands in a circle and to everyone's surprise, instead of praying, she began to sing, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus." Those of us who knew the words joined in, after which grandmother prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed and then prayed some more until Antonio had to shout AMEN! But grandmother kept right on praying. Antonio's groomsmen came to the rescue with a chorus of AMENS signaling us to sit down. Oblivious to their calls, grandmother remained standing and continued to pray until Antonio gently escorted her to her seat thanking her for her blessing.
In a Caribbean paradise
It is Friday, December 14th. The suite where I am staying is on the second floor of one of the 47 buildings on the property for guests. As mother of the bride, I have the suite to myself that includes a private bath and air conditioning. Although it is a couples resort, I am alone, but I am not lonely. There are 2 beds in my room and a ceiling fan over my bed. The windows have wooden shudders that open to the outside. Double doors open out onto an inviting patio with its lamp, chair, sofa and table. This morning, I have made Jamaican coffee and lain down on the sofa outside to read my meditations before breakfast.
It is so beautiful here in Jamaica -- so peaceful at this resort--I think it is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life. I have seen places like this only in the movies, but here I am now basking in this warm and humid paradise. Palm trees and floral shrubs are abundant throughout the property and tiny birds chirp in the trees nearby. The walkways wind in and around the property. At one end of the resort is "the big house" whose second floor contains an Internet Cafe and casino. Use of the Internet is free to guests and I go there to read and send e-mails.
At the Palm Restaurant I join my daughter and her husband and some of her friends already enjoying breakfast. Then I invite KB and her husband Jim to my room. They are in a suite upstairs on the opposite side of the building. They arrived last night, having traveled all the way from New Mexico to be present for the wedding and for some R&R. KB and I had not visited each other since I was in South Carolina with my Mother and brother three years ago. We had a wonderful heart-filled 2-hour visit together. She sat on the other bed next to mine and Jim relaxed in a chair in the corner of the room opposite my bed and listened as we poured out our hearts. Now that Kate has completed her Ph.D.,she will reduce her workload and will retire within one year to join Jim who is already retired. Two of their daughters--Rebecca and Katie-- are here also. Rebecca, a third year law student at Georgeton, is one of the bridesmaids and is singing in the wedding tomorrow. Her older sister Katie, a nurse, is rooming with her. It feels so good to reconnect with KB and her family. She asks me about the cruise I took in November with my cousin Mary Edith and I explain to her how Mary Edith had inspirated me early in my life. In 1959 she had participated in the first sit-in demonstration to integrate the lunch counter in Lynchburg which resulted in her spending 30 days in jail. I admired her courage and social activism and several years later, during my junior year in college, I worked in the projects for a summer in New Orleans and gave a young black boy free organ lessons.
Jamaican food is delicious and there is so much of it here at the resort - but I am being very good and not eating too much. I had a strawberry daiquiri for dessert at lunch. Tonight the members of the wedding party will meet for a rehearsal dinner. The wedding is tomorrow (Saturday) at 4 p.m. and Sunday I return to Richmond, but I hope to swim in the warm Caribbean waters before I leave Jamaica!
Now I will go back to my room and work on my dress. I have to sew the hem in it because it is too long. I had to whack it off at the bottom before I left Richmond.
It is great to celebrate being alive, to have friends and share special moments like this.
It is so beautiful here in Jamaica -- so peaceful at this resort--I think it is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life. I have seen places like this only in the movies, but here I am now basking in this warm and humid paradise. Palm trees and floral shrubs are abundant throughout the property and tiny birds chirp in the trees nearby. The walkways wind in and around the property. At one end of the resort is "the big house" whose second floor contains an Internet Cafe and casino. Use of the Internet is free to guests and I go there to read and send e-mails.
At the Palm Restaurant I join my daughter and her husband and some of her friends already enjoying breakfast. Then I invite KB and her husband Jim to my room. They are in a suite upstairs on the opposite side of the building. They arrived last night, having traveled all the way from New Mexico to be present for the wedding and for some R&R. KB and I had not visited each other since I was in South Carolina with my Mother and brother three years ago. We had a wonderful heart-filled 2-hour visit together. She sat on the other bed next to mine and Jim relaxed in a chair in the corner of the room opposite my bed and listened as we poured out our hearts. Now that Kate has completed her Ph.D.,she will reduce her workload and will retire within one year to join Jim who is already retired. Two of their daughters--Rebecca and Katie-- are here also. Rebecca, a third year law student at Georgeton, is one of the bridesmaids and is singing in the wedding tomorrow. Her older sister Katie, a nurse, is rooming with her. It feels so good to reconnect with KB and her family. She asks me about the cruise I took in November with my cousin Mary Edith and I explain to her how Mary Edith had inspirated me early in my life. In 1959 she had participated in the first sit-in demonstration to integrate the lunch counter in Lynchburg which resulted in her spending 30 days in jail. I admired her courage and social activism and several years later, during my junior year in college, I worked in the projects for a summer in New Orleans and gave a young black boy free organ lessons.
Jamaican food is delicious and there is so much of it here at the resort - but I am being very good and not eating too much. I had a strawberry daiquiri for dessert at lunch. Tonight the members of the wedding party will meet for a rehearsal dinner. The wedding is tomorrow (Saturday) at 4 p.m. and Sunday I return to Richmond, but I hope to swim in the warm Caribbean waters before I leave Jamaica!
Now I will go back to my room and work on my dress. I have to sew the hem in it because it is too long. I had to whack it off at the bottom before I left Richmond.
It is great to celebrate being alive, to have friends and share special moments like this.
Arriving at A December Destination Wedding
I arrived in Jamaica Thursday afternoon, December 13th, at Couples Swept Away, a resort in Negril located right on the edge of the Caribbean sea. My daughter Juanita will be getting married here on Saturday, December 15th, in the wedding gazebo on the resort property. Negril is about an hour and a half from the Montego Bay airport where I landed after a very long flight from Richmond that began at 6 a.m. to Atlanta by 9 a.m. - then a 2 hour stop over there and a three hour flight from Atlanta to Jamaica, arriving about 2:30 p.m. A bus driver brought us to Negril from Montego Bay after we cleared immigration.
The streets are narrow and the bus drivers drive very fast. On the way here, I sat up front with the bus driver whose thick accent was hard to understand. Children all wearing different colored uniforms were just getting out from school - it was about 3:30 p.m. Each school has a different uniform that the children wear so a child's school can be known just by the uniform he or she is wearing. The parents have to pay for the children's school books and supplies and since some of the families are very poor and cannot afford to pay, the government has a program that provides for them although the country has no welfare system. If you don't have a job, you are just out of luck. I saw some women selling bottled water in the streets--anything to make money.
Tonight the two families and their friends gathered for a reception at Rick's Cafe, a local restaurant near huge cliffs that jut out into the sea. Young men climb the cliffs and dive into the blue Caribbean waters below. The night sky was so clear tonight - I could see the stars. I lay down in a lounge chair beside the pool next to the cafe, gazed at the stars and drank Jamaican rum! Mmmmmmmmm good!
The streets are narrow and the bus drivers drive very fast. On the way here, I sat up front with the bus driver whose thick accent was hard to understand. Children all wearing different colored uniforms were just getting out from school - it was about 3:30 p.m. Each school has a different uniform that the children wear so a child's school can be known just by the uniform he or she is wearing. The parents have to pay for the children's school books and supplies and since some of the families are very poor and cannot afford to pay, the government has a program that provides for them although the country has no welfare system. If you don't have a job, you are just out of luck. I saw some women selling bottled water in the streets--anything to make money.
Tonight the two families and their friends gathered for a reception at Rick's Cafe, a local restaurant near huge cliffs that jut out into the sea. Young men climb the cliffs and dive into the blue Caribbean waters below. The night sky was so clear tonight - I could see the stars. I lay down in a lounge chair beside the pool next to the cafe, gazed at the stars and drank Jamaican rum! Mmmmmmmmm good!
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Thanksgiving 2007
Juanita met me early Thursday morning at the Newark International Airport. She, Antonio and I decided to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV since Antonio was sick and we were all too tired to go into the City even though the weather was warm for Thanksgiving - in the 60s. David's family--his aunt Majorie ("Re"), nephews Michael and Matthew, Michael's wife Sonja and their 2 children had driven up from Atlanta. Later that afternoon, we met them at the bus station in Rutherford, NJ and took the bus to Times Square where I bought a lottery ticket and won $20! We walked to Virgil's where we enjoyed a traditional southern American Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, creole pecan stuffing, seafood and duck gumbo, spinach, green beans, mashed potatoes, biscuits and pecan pie for dessert. Juanita had her camcorder with her and filmed the family around the table. Everyone agreed that the best part of the meal was just being together.
After dinner, Juanita, her aunt and I walked to the Port Authority where the Firefighter's memorial stood near a newstand containing the names of all the NY firefighters who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11. The bus took us back to Rutherford where Juanita has a condo. The adults enjoyed champagne while the children played games and watched a movie on TV.
Juanita had arranged Friday as a "guys' day out" and "girls' day out." It was a cold, blustery day. The temperature had dropped significantly from yesterday's 60s down into the 30s. All the men went back to NYC for more sight-seeing. Juanita took the women to her bridal shop in West New York, New Jersey, an hispanic community, where she had a final fitting for her wedding gown and picked out her veil and tiara. We lunched at Noches, a Hispanic restaurant, where our waitress could speak little English. We just pointed to the items on the menu that we wanted. Aunt Re had us all laughing when she stuck out her tongue and pointed to it as if the waitress could understand that she wanted water! Since Juanita could speak a little Spanish, we got by okay.
After lunch, it was time for some early Christmas shopping at a large department store in Manhattan, Centry 21, where we rejoined our men folk. Juanita found some curtains on sale and some gloves for Antonio. I found Antonio a nice red wool scarf that had been $65 but I got it for $29. I bought some postcards and a shot glass as souvenirs too.
After we agreed to meet everyone back at the hotel for some family time together before saying goodbye, the women stopped at a Starbucks for hot chocolate because it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing hard. Juanita's father's family had driven all the way from Atlanta for this Thanksgiving visit. They were needing to head back for the long drive home Saturday morning.
I spent a quiet Saturday at home with Juanita and Antonio, helped Juanita make a special chowder from Emeril, and watched a movie, "The Day After Tomorrow." That evening, Juanita dropped me off at Kinko's so I could send e-mails while she got a manicure. She picked up Antonio from the barbershop and we met her father for dinner on me near Juanta's dance studio.
Not being used to the cold weather of the northern United States, Antonio, Juanita's husband from Jamaica, stayed in bed Sunday morning while Juanita took me to the airport. My flight was overbooked so I volunteered to give up my seat in exchange for hotel accommodations Sunday night, plus 3 meals and a voucher for $500 for travel anywhere Continental flies. I stayed in a Howard Johnson's hotel near the Newark Airport Sunday night. Monday morning, the hotel shuttle service took me to the airport and I got back to Richmond that afternoon and went to bed!
Thoughout the holiday as we traveled into the City, I became keenly aware of all those serving as waiters in restaurants and hotels, as well as the department store clerks who stand and wait on customers bustling about the counters for the best buys while rummaging through neatly folded stacks of clothes. I watched them as they worked and was reminded of the words of John Milton in his poem, "On His Blindness."
"Thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
After dinner, Juanita, her aunt and I walked to the Port Authority where the Firefighter's memorial stood near a newstand containing the names of all the NY firefighters who lost their lives in the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11. The bus took us back to Rutherford where Juanita has a condo. The adults enjoyed champagne while the children played games and watched a movie on TV.
Juanita had arranged Friday as a "guys' day out" and "girls' day out." It was a cold, blustery day. The temperature had dropped significantly from yesterday's 60s down into the 30s. All the men went back to NYC for more sight-seeing. Juanita took the women to her bridal shop in West New York, New Jersey, an hispanic community, where she had a final fitting for her wedding gown and picked out her veil and tiara. We lunched at Noches, a Hispanic restaurant, where our waitress could speak little English. We just pointed to the items on the menu that we wanted. Aunt Re had us all laughing when she stuck out her tongue and pointed to it as if the waitress could understand that she wanted water! Since Juanita could speak a little Spanish, we got by okay.
After lunch, it was time for some early Christmas shopping at a large department store in Manhattan, Centry 21, where we rejoined our men folk. Juanita found some curtains on sale and some gloves for Antonio. I found Antonio a nice red wool scarf that had been $65 but I got it for $29. I bought some postcards and a shot glass as souvenirs too.
After we agreed to meet everyone back at the hotel for some family time together before saying goodbye, the women stopped at a Starbucks for hot chocolate because it was freezing cold and the wind was blowing hard. Juanita's father's family had driven all the way from Atlanta for this Thanksgiving visit. They were needing to head back for the long drive home Saturday morning.
I spent a quiet Saturday at home with Juanita and Antonio, helped Juanita make a special chowder from Emeril, and watched a movie, "The Day After Tomorrow." That evening, Juanita dropped me off at Kinko's so I could send e-mails while she got a manicure. She picked up Antonio from the barbershop and we met her father for dinner on me near Juanta's dance studio.
Not being used to the cold weather of the northern United States, Antonio, Juanita's husband from Jamaica, stayed in bed Sunday morning while Juanita took me to the airport. My flight was overbooked so I volunteered to give up my seat in exchange for hotel accommodations Sunday night, plus 3 meals and a voucher for $500 for travel anywhere Continental flies. I stayed in a Howard Johnson's hotel near the Newark Airport Sunday night. Monday morning, the hotel shuttle service took me to the airport and I got back to Richmond that afternoon and went to bed!
Thoughout the holiday as we traveled into the City, I became keenly aware of all those serving as waiters in restaurants and hotels, as well as the department store clerks who stand and wait on customers bustling about the counters for the best buys while rummaging through neatly folded stacks of clothes. I watched them as they worked and was reminded of the words of John Milton in his poem, "On His Blindness."
"Thousands at his bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait."
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