Family First

The passion for skiing can be trumped by family activities and surely that's a good thing. This weekend has been a great family time. Youngest child, daughter Yo (Pseudonym to protect privacy) and fiance Matt are visiting from Long Island. And Matt's parents are also visiting the area so all of us could join in a tasting session at The Lodge in Skaneateles on Saturday. The Lodge will be the wedding and reception venue in September 2010. Our Saturday session was a delight of tasting all the good food and sharing family stories as our two families continue to get to know each other better. We all had a special time on Saturday Evening with a dinner at our home, followed by our favorite domino game.

This also gave us a chance work on the wedding planning as well as working together on addressing and stuffing Save The Date mailings for the guest list. This will be the fifth wedding of our combined children that Nancy and I have experienced. Each one has had a unique character. By far this one will certainly be the most complex and elaborate, but surely will be a great one. (This is indeed a wedding year of note since daughter Michelle will also be married in August). Nancy will officiate at the interfaith wedding ceremony that will incorporate essential elements of the Jewish and Christian faiths. We will trust that God will bless this union.

It was a pleasure to have Yo join us in worship at the United Presbyterian Church of Cortland today. This was Nancy's first official day as Interim Associate Pastor - so special time for us too.

And now back to skiing. I did get a chance for an afternoon ski at GP. Fair conditions and relatively few geezer skiers. Light was very flat. Raining tonight but we hope it turns to snow. Looking forward to tomorrow when Yo and Matt will join me for part of the day on the slopes. We will hope that the rain will have disappeared.