Veronica's Wedding

I must be the worst photographer ever. I took a ton of pictures at Veronica's wedding, but 99% of them came out blurry. It was a fantastic wedding, but I just wish I had some sort of proof of that. Xavier got to be the ring bearer, and Tilly was the flower girl. She had a parasol full of petals that she walked down the aisle with. After the mass, she promptly dumped them en masse into the foyer, and she and her cousins tossed and retossed them into the air. (but, again, no good pictures of it)

Instead I have a nice picture of Xavier spying and of Papa B being very stoic.

Xmas teaser

Remembering the Small Things

• For breakfast, Aimee loved her orange juice. But no pulp allowed, no calcium.
• She loved turkey sandwiches with extra pickles. She also loved the thanksgiving special, also known as the pilgrim.
• She loved to make meatballs and lasagna and brownies with extra chocolate.
• She had wild untamed hair-- but she was amazing in her ability to just pin it up with a thousand bobby pins and make it look really good.
• She would always read the obituaries every morning. Death stories always fascinated her.
• She loved the sunshine. But also covered herself in SPF 100 sun block. Always loaded X and T with sunblock and made them wear hats in the sun.
• She loved taking walks. Would take Tilly and Xavier to different parks in the Somerville neighborhood: Capen Street park, which had a sprinkler, and Dillboy park.
• She gave a whole bunch of kisses at once-- would completely smother you in kisses.
• She liked only toothpaste, not tooth gel. Would go through toothbrushes monthly.
• She always promised me she would make me a Spanish fried potato dish, but she never did.
• Snickers was her favorite candy bar.
• She loved Orange sesame chicken. We had it almost every Sunday night.
• She was quite the coca-cola addict.
• She loved strawberries.
• Loved making sangria, but wasn't a real fan of alcohol. Although she did like taking the first sip from my beers. After we'd go to the Haymarket, we'd have bags and bags of fresh produce. Then we'd make a batch of sangria and sip it the rest of the day.
• Loved the beach, especially Cape Cod. We had our own vacation, though, in 2008 where we went to Cape Ann-- and she loved that too. The hotel we stayed at was the Blue Shutters Inn in Gloucester. And the name of the beach was Good Harbor Beach. We also went to Plum Island too.
• Couldn't really dance or sing. She loved to try singing, but she would switch keys 4 or 5 times in the middle of a song. I would tease her about it, and she'd get upset.
• Loved Victorian things.
• Loved staying up late and sleeping in. (Opposite of me.)
• Loved reading in general. She would read a whole slew of junk lit.-- suspense, mystery, whatever she could get her hands on.
• Horrible speller. :)
  
• Loved Hawaiian pizza (ham and pineapple.)
• Loved every one of the holidays, anything that was festive, but especially Christmas.
• Played hide and seek with Xavier and Tilly all the time in our apartment in Somerville. Xavier could never find her, even though she would hide in the same spot.
• She could speak Spanish pretty well and would always translate the Spanish channels for us.
• Loved going to the Haymarket in Boston.
• Loved robes and slippers. Had tons of them.
• Had tea everyday, no silly flavors though.
• Loved special Christmas socks and would wear them all year long. Some with pictures of Santa, some with pictures of Frosty, or the reindeer. Otherwise, she rarely wore matching socks.
• Hated PBS show Calliou because he whined too much.
• Did not like all the Disney Princess stuff. Felt it was a trap for little girls to keep them stupid and vain.
• Loved the author Louis L'Amour, but just as entertainment.
• Loved reading Tolkein and could do the whole trilogy in a weekend. Once she started, she couldn't stop until she was finished.
• Didn't get her ears pierced until she was 33-- as a birthday present from me.
• Always wore her ruby necklace that I had got her for our first Christmas when we were married.
• Wasn't a fan of makeup, but looked absolutely gorgeous when she put it on.
• Hated our red 96 Nissan Sentra-- it always broke down on her. One time, while she was pregnant with Tilly, she was driving in downtown Boston when it stalled out on her. It was dark out, and she was pretty freaked out. She tried starting the car, but it didn't work. Turned out, she didn't have it in "Park." Once she fixed the gear, it drove fine.
• Never smoked a cigarette.
• I was her first kiss.
• Loved looking up at the stars. When we were dating, we used to lie on a blanket at Thomas More and gaze at the stars. We were getting really good at identifying constellations. (Couldn't really see the stars in Somerville, though.)
• She was a champion diaper changer-- faster than anyone I knew.
• Didn't believe in tough love. She would get really upset when I would try to put Xavier down and let him cry. She never wanted X or T to "cry it out."
• Always signed her letters "God Bless" or GB
• She had more than morning sickness-- she had all day sickness that lasted for 9 months for both pregnancies.
• Always wanted to go to Egypt.
• She loved watching Wheel of Fortune (was good at it), Jeopardy, and Lost (a show on ABC).
• When we were engaged, we used to watch Joe Millionaire together over the phone.
• Had a green winter vest that she wore everywhere.
• Hated fried chicken, but ate it anyway because it was my favorite.
• Loved setting up the nativity set, at home and at her parents. Always hoped she would get her parents' set.
• Put butter on everything.
• Wanted to have 12 kids.
• Loved taking naps-- long ones. Loved sleeping in too.
• Always recycled. (unlike me, who didn't care so much)
• Would make grilled cheese sandwiches with slices of Granny Smith Apples in them. Tuna Melts too. Another one of her favorite dishes to cook was stuffed chicken breast. She'd slice them and put feta cheese and spinach-- sometimes other things too. Brown them on the stove, then bake until complete.
• Would surprise me with a backup pack of smokes hidden somewhere in the apartment.

Halloween 2010

Xavier and Tilly-- 1st day of school 2010

Texas

We just finished the trek to Texas. Tilly, Xavier, and I are going to set up camp here for a while with my parents who are also moving, from Baton Rouge, LA. I'm going to try to take some pictures soon of the kids and the new home and post them. I promise to be better about updates. :)

Aimee came here three times. The first time, I had just torn my ACL in my knee while I was at UD, so I wasn't able to show her around the city. She was disappointed-- Aimee always felt that there were things that needed to be done, and there should never be any excuses to avoid them. We are all called to sacrifice. She was tough. :)

The second time, she was sick with the cold-- but I had set up my apartment for the "proposal." Hundreds of flowers on the porch, baked the bread for our sandwiches even. She arrived, beautiful and as cute as ever, and it was just wonderful! She didn't hesitate for a second when I asked, didn't even look at the ring-- she just smiled at me and said "yes."

The third time, we came for Dr. Louise's 90th birthday. It was a great time, especially since it was the first time we had to hustle to catch the plane, organize the kids, etc. We did such a great job. I really miss the way we worked together. We were great, and we were capable of great things together.

I still miss her so much.

Along the Row

One of Aimee's friends contacted me today about the reading of a poem Aimee had recorded while she worked at the archives department at Tufts. It's called "Along the Row" by John Holmes:

http://dca.lib.tufts.edu/features/holmes/world/row/row.html


Along the Row

The bell rang from the Chapel while we walked.
Oh, where are autumn days and nights like these!
I showed my friend the tower above the hill,
And Capen Path, Ballou between the trees.

A gate in the fence showed faintly in the dusk.
In East and West the lights began to shine.
A group of men passed by and called "Hullo-"
My heart sang, and I thought, "My college- mine!"

The Row in autumn twilight! Tall dark trees
Leaned kindly over us. We talked of games,
But I remembered old familiar friends,
And I was silent, thinking of old names.

The men who walked the Row before my time
Were by my side, good ghosts my heart awoke-
While I must show my friend the tennis court,
The newest hall for men, the gym. He spoke:

"How you must love this place!" My heart stood still
And ached to think how much I love this Hill.