It’s like the end of a play, the last curtain call. We’ve been working for weeks – the Bride for months and the Love Bug for years – on this past Big Bat Mitzvah weekend; and then it’s over. Our little girl has come of age. The whirlwind of cooking, catering, decorating, and celebrating has come to an end. Our Granddaughter was truly exceptional, reading the Torah with poise and welcoming friends and family with her beautiful smile.
The evening’s festivities included basketball games and food trucks galore. Phones were collected at the front end, so 8th graders could be kids. For the couple who married in an apple orchard on Thomas Jefferson’s mountain this very weekend 15 years ago, planning a party in a park at the edge of a golf course was beshert (fate). The Bride and Groom did a most amazing job!
We enlisted our cousins and Bob’s brother to help string 7 foot blue and gold streamers across the community center’s gym floor. People were skeptical, but ever so slowly my vision came to life. The Pumpkin was busy blowing up helium balloons for the arch entry, and before long the Bug arrived and helped with placement! The Groom’s parents had to quickly dry and cover all the outside seating after the morning’s rain. This party was truly a family affair.
At sunrise I’d collected local dahlias, snapdragons, bluebells and roses – it just so happens Nashville’s flower wholesaler is right down the street! I wish I had read the rules for designing perfect flower arrangements; related to my favorite swirling Fibonacci sequence, ‘the rule calls for using three types of dominant flowers, five greenery stems, and eight stems of an accent flower.’ I only had an hour to come up with 5 moveable bouquets for the day, so my kitchen looked like a disaster zone.
We invited the family over for brunch on Sunday and the weather was spectacular. The after party is always a welcome addition to the main event, we get to schmooze and kvell to our heart’s content!
The Love Bug’s Torah reading was about Lost Things. To paraphrase, God commands us to care for the property of another, friend or foe, as if it was our own, and to return it to them. To NOT BE INDIFFERENT. After all, it was silence and indifference that allowed the Shoah to happen. What are we doing as people are disappearing in the streets? When children are thrown out of Head Start? When families are separated?
Here are some Monday morning arrangements.
MountainMornings 
Mazel Tov!
Thanks Lisa! Happy Fall and the Holy Days to come this year!
Congratulations to all!
Thank you. It was so good to see Robin and Jen, wish I had more time.
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Oh my goodness. How can time go by so fast? Wasn’t it just yesterday that we worked on proms and high school events for The Bride and my boy and their friends? Congratulations to all. My grands are growing up also. Ezra will be 14 and Isla 10 in just a few weeks. Isla was in a summer theatre production of Meet Me in St. Louis a few weeks ago. She played Tootie, the youngest child in the family. This is the part that earned an Oscar for Margaret O’Brien in the movie. Ezra is working at the brewery/restaurant and certainly learning the business from the ground up. I will be at Salt Creek on Sunday as Rumson kicks off its celebration of the 250th Birthday of the USA. Big stuff planned all year. I will give a very short talk about Rumson’s Revolutionary history. Did you know that I wrote a book about Rumson? Legendary Locals of Rumson is part of the Arcadia Books series of local histories. I had lunch last week at The Raven Tea Room in Fair Haven. I am lucky to have two worlds-Farmingdale and Rumson. All best regards.
How is time flying so fast! We had the Rocker’s Bar Mitzvah lunch at Salt Creek the first week they opened, and then his party was at the beach club. His band even played! Your Grands sound so creative. And how exciting to be involved with our 250th birthday bash, wish I could be be there! I do have your book on Rumson history and always enjoyed reading it.
Give the old NJ crew my very best. I miss living near the sea and all my old friends. Love, Chris