Sorrow and Celebration

My oldest friend, Nicole, better known to me as Nikki or Nik, got married in Napa yesterday. Gavin Baxter is a lucky man. One of my favorite memories of Nik is her 4th grade birthday slumber party, during which none of us slept but we did watch Purple Rain. It was awesome until I couldn't fight sleep anymore and awoke to a bunch of slap-happy girls feeding me chocolate. Oh, pre-pubescence.

I attended her wedding by myself, and in fact, left before the dancing and cake-cutting began because we had some terrible news yesterday morning. Leeor's uncle died after a brief, but horrific, battle with lymphoma. It all happened so quickly. Safta is in Israel with their family and we are here, shocked that this generous, lovely man is gone.

As I drove to Napa, I observed the sharpness and clarity of spring. I wondered if grief makes things appear as bright as technicolor, as I'd never felt that way before. I had to momentarily shelve the reality of what my family was going through to honor my dear friend. I'm glad I went. I talked with their officiant. He had been ordained as a priest but has also been married for 35 years. He was really cool. We stood at the bar (I had my first martini and I think I needed it) and talked about death for a good while. I don't know what else to say right now. It's fucked up when people die before ripe old age.

And yet, I had fun at Nik's wedding. It was beautiful. And I also enjoyed Avi at the park this afternoon. He is so much fun. Last weekend. when he was trying on our shoes, my mom laughed so hard she cried. It was really great.

We looked into plane tickets to Tel Aviv. We need to bring Avi to meet more of his extended family. Life is too short to wait.