It took me three plane rides, two books (neither finished), and one conversation with an Irishman to get me to Europe, but I made it! The conversation, by the way, consisted in part of me convincing my airplane friend, who had just spent a week in the Chicago area for an “American wedding,” that not all beers in the USA are watery and yellow. I recommended he go to the NW. He recommended I visit the bar he manages in Mayo, Ireland. I traversed the Atlantic from Chicago to arrive in Bath, England where I was picked up by my soon-to-be sister-in-law. She drove me from the airport to her and my brother's home. The following day would be their civil union and I had come to celebrate with them and to be a witness at the ceremony. Our next step would be France, where we were joining the rest of our families and friends for a weekend celebration of their marriage. We were ready for days of fun. Fate however, had something else in mind. The night before traveling, Vanessa and I were very suddenly hit with the Norovirus, a 24-hour nausea-inducing virus. We spent the night and the following day traveling to France all the while painfully cleansing ourselves, to put it lightly. The Norovirus had apparently been spreading through the UK, and it managed to find me by my second day on the island. In the following two days, three more family members succumbed to the virus, with Vanessa and I on their trails sanitizing the bathrooms. As we all made our way to south-central France, we continued to religiously wash our hands and never shared food until finally the nausea subsided for everyone. By the time friends and family arrived to the beautiful location of the wedding ceremony, no one was sick and we were all definitely ready for days of fun. My job was to translate the ceremony from English, being read by the celebrant (in white shirt above), into French so that our French-speaking relatives and friends could understand. The bride and groom didn't need any help translating the kiss into French, however. AND THEN DANCE!!!!
1 Comment
Wendy H
9/7/2012 03:44:14 am
How wonderful! Not the Norovirus, but the celebration! Love the cheese cake, and what a wonderful photo of the dancing with the blurry motion and sparkly colored lights! La vie est belle!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
yes blog is currently 'archived'yes blog started when I moved from the States to Spain in 2012 and documented the results of saying 'yes' - to the people and learning opportunities - that came my way. Archives
October 2014
Categories
All
|