“Why don’t we go grocery shopping then go home and do the laundry?”
We had just crested the last hill south of the city of Syracuse when The Wife posed this question. Any other weekend, the first load would be on and I would be back from Wegmans already.
“I don’t have a list or coupons,” I responded, longing for my mid-afternoon Sunday nap.
“That’s fine. You can go tomorrow after work,” The Wife knows where to hit. Navigating Wegmans between 3 to 6 p.m. on a Monday night is like going to the mall on Dec. 23. I offered a sigh of compliance.
“Ooooooh. Laundry and groceries. Such excitement,” screeched a voice from the backseat. Leah, our travel companion for this weekend, faux mocked our planned activity as we snaked through the south side on the way to the airport so she could return home. I returned the mocking with a tasteless comment about…something. I make so few tasteful comments that it’s hard to keep track.
Thus ended a very nice weekend in Ithaca, N.Y. (Motto: 10 Square Miles Surrounded By Reality), where we attended the wedding of our longtime friend Jeremy Hartigan and the former Holly McIntyre. It was a chance to see all of the people we go on vacation with each summer (sans children), plus a few we see too infrequently.
***
The wedding itself was lovely, if only for the fact that it was 20 minutes long. To know Jeremy and Holly is to know that the entire day was perfectly them: a tight ceremony that revolved around how much they loved each other; a dress that was perfectly Holly (vintage, chic, flattering…she really looked beautiful); a simple, elegant reception dinner; and an ice cream sundae bar instead of cake. It was them in so many ways.
I joke that Jeremy was my first love in college, only because homoerotic humor is one of the staples of our friendship. Jeremy has been one of my closest and dearest friends for a very long time. In times of crisis, sadness, happiness and total boredom, Jeremy has been one person I could count on to be there, usually with a hug, smile and off-color joke to keep everyone smiling. To share the day with them was an honor and wish them nothing but the best.
A few of us got a glimpse of Holly and Jeremy last night. A photo was being taken in the bar and Jeremy was lingering and talking with someone. Holly, ever the taskmaster, grabbed him by the hand and delivered a “Jeremy, you need to go with me now.” If she only knew how many times she was going to utter that statement in her life.
If only because I am selfish, I can honestly say that I’ve never been happier for two people getting married than I was for Jeremy and Holly.
***
The trip to Ithaca was actually quite nice. I find it is one of those places that I just don’t get to as often as I would like. From a food perspective, I got to enjoy two of my favorite places this morning: Ithaca Bakery for bagels, and Ithaca Coffee Company for, well, coffee and some shopping. ICC is like Target. You go in with the intention of buying one thing and walk away $70 lighter.
The weekend was not just about weddings and food. I got to connect and reconnect with some people from college and finally meet some other people that I had known only by name. I laughed a lot (particularly at the fact that my wife and a very good friend of ours both wore the same dress), spit beer on my wife’s back during the best man’s speech (oops), and found out that someone took something I said 10+ years ago after poisoning myself on a full bottle of Johnnie Walker Red Label so seriously that they dislike me to this day. It should be noted that on the same night I said this, I may have also given the priest and the parents of the groom the finger. I may have also thrown up that bottle of scotch. But, apparently there is someone out there more bitter than I am. Congratulations to them.
***
Since we have no list, I am not entirely sure what we’re having for dinner this week. We’re definitely eating pizza tonight and soup tomorrow. Everything else is a complete crapshoot, thus the empty piece of paper above.
Al Dente: A Blog About Eating 
Awwww, thanks Jared! I’m glad you had a good time. As you said up there, we certainly had a good time! (So, we’re seeing this a little late. Jeremy’s mom, of all people, stumbled on it and pointed it out to Jeremy.)
Glad you found it. And how is Mrs. Hartigan more web savvy than you two?
She was searching for wedding pictures on Facebook or something? Maybe she googled us. We don’t normally google ourselves.