I have heard tell of weddings where the bride and groom call ahead to a local hotel and arrange for a block of rooms at a somewhat discounted rate. I’ve also heard of weddings where they don’t do that, but they do give you a list of local places to stay that are convenient for the event. Hard to believe, but true. I’ve even heard of smaller events where they just call you and say, “Not there, get the one at the crossing. It’s miles closer.”
This wedding was no such wedding. That’s how we ended up in strip-mauled and condo-ed Fairfax Virginia. Convenient to the Safeway and a rather tasty Jewish deli called Chutzpah, but not convenient to the wedding, the family, the other wedding guests, well, not really convenient at all.
The inconvenience gave us a chance to spend some quality time with Singh, a chuckling northern Indian taxi driver who asked if he could tag along to the party. “Sure,” I said. “My husband isn’t here so there’s room for you, but you’ll have to speak German.” “Ich kann ein bisschen!” he replied, cracking us up all over the place. It was nice to talk to another nomad so far from home. He’d lived in Germany and his brother married a German woman… but now he was shuttling us from one subdivision to the next. No wonder he’d rather attend a party.
I suffer from wedding ambivalence but I was delighted to be able to hang out with all three of my brothers at once, a joy that happens not very often in spite of the fact that we really do enjoy each other’s company. I got to see my Dad and my step-mom all dressed up and on dance floor, I got to spend time with my new and delightful inlaws, and I got to loll about a hotel in Fairfax, Virginia, for long periods of uninterrupted lethargy.
Virginia is dreary at this time of year, brown bare stick trees and muddy yellow lawns and a dirty color to the sky. It seems to be one great suburb interspersed with office parks. Neighborhoods that have no sidewalks depress me, as do arterials that accommodate more than two lanes of traffic in a single direction; I’m sensitive that way. I’m back in Seattle admiring the color of the trees (green) and the lack of mall shopping (not in my neighborhood) and the light that is somehow higher, brighter, than the Virginia March gray. I hear the Eastern states offer a lovely spring, but perhaps after what they dish up for winter, any spring seems an improvement.
I was very happy to attend the wedding, but I am also very happy to be home.
[tags]Virginia[/tags]
I know what you mean about the VA gray, I just moved down to Savannah, GA from Northern VA and I still can’t get over how green things are, and how blue the sky is. Glad you’re back in a lush environment!
Wow…you were literally right down the street from me. I apologize for the sprawling state of the suburbs of Virginia.