Last night, we attended the wedding of A. and M. in Forsyth Park. The temperature was cool; the ceremony was short, light-hearted, and beautiful, in front of the fountain. As part of the ceremony, they created a time capsule box. The mothers of the bride and groom stood up and contributed items, explaining each one, such as M's third grade trophy. It was sweet. Then the group walked across the street to a hotel for drinks in the lobby, followed by a fantastic dinner in the dining room. Standing by Liberto's side throughout, listening to various conversations from multiple employees, I learned a lot about the pain and politics of his job, more than I ever learn at home because on most days he doesn't want to talk about it when he walks in the door. As assistant city engineer, he is squeezed between the city manager, above him, and all the employees he supervises. He is the buck that stops right before the city manager. Therefore, he has to absorb all these peoples' pain, grievances, resentment, desires, kiss-ups, concerns, and mistakes, while answering to the no-nonsense manager who doesn't care about the humanity involved, and wants to see the results. Yet, overall, he continues to say he likes his job. Just not every minute.
I was thinking last night at the wedding that at this same moment, Derek and Erin may be doing their vow renewal. They're in Cozumel for their 10th anniversary.
Yesterday, before the wedding, he and Shawn and I went for lunch at Moe's for Mexican food, picked up the new printer at Office Depot, and did other little errands. I finished my second book of summer vacation. The first was A Reliable Wife; the second Olive Kittredge. Today I start Matterhorn, a Viet Nam War novel.
Yesterday, I also started researching the possibilities for a trip to Rome for December.
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