After The Ball Is Over

Just suffering from post-wedding let-down today.

I had such big plans to entertain out-of-town wedding guests.

None of my plans worked out.

Just as well; my concept of beauty, fun, and joy doesn’t always dovetail with other people’s. I have to be careful not to bully through my plans without listening to the plans and preferences of others.

As my daughter Jennifer reminded me Friday, I am not the center of the universe.

(She is. Just ask her.)

While I relish the beauty of the marsh, other folks slap sand gnats.

Not everyone sees things through my eyes.

For instance, when I was a teenager, I uncovered a human skeleton on Fort George Island.

What a thrill.

I intended to show the spot to out-of-town wedding guests during a tour of the 1830s Kingsley Plantation after the wedding. What cooler thing could we possibly do after a lavish ball?

Then Ginny and I planned a banquet at a luxurious seafood restaurant. We kicked around ideas for a visit to the equestrian center, tubing on the Ichetucknee River, strolls on the beach, maybe let them toss a shrimp net, and, of course, I wanted to show off our own garden.

Instead, most guests ended up shooting pool, playing video games, drinking beer and eating pizza.

Six or eight of them disappeared off the radar altogether without our having a chance to even say good-bye to them.

I feel both relieved and disappointed.

Although surrounded by people I care about but seldom see, I hardly had an in depth conversation with any of them this weekend. There are a lot of people in our extended family that I do not really know at all. I’d sort of hoped this occasion would remedy that.

But, alas, airline schedules, motel reservations, personal plans, a cell phone lost (or stolen) aboard the ship, transportation snafus, missed phone calls, misunderstandings, happy confusion, etc. intervened.

In other words, everything ran normally for a logistical operation of this magnitude.

Ginny took two extra vacation days off work so we could spend time with out-of-towners. And I prettied up home, garden, and plumbing — but no one made it into our home for a visit.

Guess I’ll have to eat all those cookies, chips, danish pastries and shack treats we brought in all by myself.

I also underestimated the energy level of guests.

The cruise ship experience exposed us all to a strange new environment, happy but unfamiliar, and by the time we reached the parking lot afterwards, I think we all suffered from exhaustion.

From the post-wedding parking lot on, my plans were supposed to kick in.

They didn’t.

So instead of showing visitors the beauty of “Real Florida” over the weekend, Ginny and I found ourselves with unexpected, unscheduled free time. We dabbled in our garden, lingered over lunch, and lounged browsing through the Sunday newspapers.

Nice to recharge our batteries.

Since she has Monday off, and none of the anticipated visitors are around, we’re talking about driving out to Fort George by ourselves this afternoon. It’s part of the Timucuan Preserve.

It’s one of the most beautiful spots in Florida.

Maybe we’ll see a painting bunting, or notice a the corner of a pirate chest exposed by the tide, see a whale jump, find Indian pottery in the shell midden, catch a blacksnake, kick up a Civil War coin, or maybe even find another skeleton….

My kind of entertainment.

I’m looking forward to the day.