It was nice to be back in the hotel after a day that was fun, interesting, terrifying and slightly funny all rolled into about twelve hours. I am just pretty good at getting myself into stupid situations. One minute I can feel like the innocent and backward country bumpkin and the next minute bask in the ability to go forward unscathed in what could have been a serious situation.
Charles was glad to see me and asked all about my visit with Erin. I told him how much fun it was to see her and everything we had done. I did leave out all of the more interesting parts of the adventure. Somehow I thought it might make it sound like the really dumb things I could manage to get myself into.
The next day dawned bright and beautiful which was a good thing as the wedding was to be in the garden. Charles and I arrived at the Mansion shortly after lunch with his business partner, Allen and his wife. The wedding was to be at 4:00 followed by dinner and dancing. I wandered around watching the bustle of the caters, the wedding planner lady dashing around barking orders and the nervous bride sometimes laughing and sometimes in a rage over something. Actually I did my best to stay out of the way.
I had never attended a Jewish wedding much less a Jewish-Catholic wedding complete with both a Priest and a Rabbi. I must say it was an interesting and really a beautiful event. While the wedding party spent two hours taking pictures most of the eighty guests visited the bar. Once seated in the huge dining room I discovered I was sitting at the head table next to Charles with his daughter, Jamie, on the other side. Things went well with all of the toasts and the speeches but after they were over Jamie stood up and in a very loud voice demanded to know why I was sitting next to her Dad. Every head in the dining room turned to stare at us.
Naturally I had no answer for that...well maybe I did bit I certainly was not going to say it. No one said anything. I was a little surprised that Charles did not say anything but then Jamie had never had her Dad say anything negative to her in her life. I just sat there wanting to disappear or cry or pop her in the mouth none of which sounded like a good idea. When no one responded she finally just disappeared. It was about the same time that Charles' business partner, Allan came and said her and his wife needed to get to the airport as they had an flight back to Detroit that evening. We had all come in the same car from the airport the day before so Allan needed someone to take them. Guess who volunteered? I needed to get out of there as I felt like everyone was discussing Jamie's outburst.
Armed with a map, Allam driving and my excellent map reading skills we made it to the airport in plenty of time. Since we had not had any dinner and I was not in a hurry to go back to the wedding party I went into the airport with them and we had dinner. Then I watched as their plane took off for Detroit. I really wished I was on the plane with them.
It took me a couple of hours to get back to the wedding. Charles said he was beginning to get worried about me and I just said I got a little lost. That was not the whole truth as I was just driving around seeing the sights in order to avoid going back. It was obvious that Charles was not going to say anything about Jamie's behavior which was disappointing. She kept her distance from me and somehow I managed to get through the rest of the evening. Detroit was very nice to get back to the next day.
I don't know if Charles was expecting me to bring up the subject or not but shortly after we got home he suggested we go to counseling. He was a big believer in it and it was apparent that maybe our relationship needed some help. The first time we went together but the counselor said she thought it might be good for me to come in alone. I learned a lot about myself like why I was so non confrontational and of course, all my issues with my Mother. The interesting part of it all was how long it would take me to actually change some of the patterns of my behavior. Sometimes the status quo is just easier.
Life got busy that fall. Wally started the ninth grade at Seaholm High School. Work was very busy plus it was costume design time with the ice show. Busy was good as I did not have very much time to dwell on the situation with Charles or his daughters. One evening I was glancing through the Detroit Free Press newspaper which I rarely ever looked at. It would be interesting to know just what made me look at the paper that day. As I was flipping through the pages a headline caught my attention or maybe it was the picture.
"World Famous Speaker To Give Seminar" and there was that smile I knew so well.
