When Life Happens

It's a bit off-topic for my blog, but since this has become my primary means of communication with lots of friends and family, you'll have to suffer me a bit. At the very least, it's an explanation of where I've been for the last weeks!

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."
~Albert Schweitzer

Brothers.

"All for one and one for all
My brother and my friend
What fun we have
The time we share
Brothers 'til the end."
~Author Unknown

"Constant use will not wear ragged the fabric of friendship."
~Dorothy Parker

"After a girl is grown, her little brothers - now her protectors - seem like big brothers."
~Terri Guillemets

Fun uncle.

"Blessed is the servant who loves his brother as much when he is sick and useless as when he is well and can be of service to him. And blessed is he who loves his brother as well when he is afar off as when he is by his side, and who would say nothing behind his back he might not, in love, say before his face."
~St Francis of Assisi

Crazy husband.

"Laughter is the shortest distance between two people."
~Victor Borge

"Are we not like two volumes of one book?"
~Marceline Desbordes-Valmore

"Love one another and you will be happy. It's as simple and as difficult as that."
~Michael Leunig

"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking together in the same direction."
~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet."
~James Openheim

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."
~Rita Rudner

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person."
~Mignon McLaughlin

"Ah me! love can not be cured by herbs."
~Ovid

"Brothers and sisters are as close as hands and feet."
~Vietnamese Proverb

"My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, both are infinite."
~William Shakespeare

"The highlight of my childhood was making my brother laugh so hard that food came out his nose."
~Garrison Keillor

Before pictures:

Lovely centerpieces, aren't they? Ahem. Thank you.

And, after:

That would be the hors d'ouvres table, in 5 inches of standing water.

This dude deserves a raise.

Ya, you might as well laugh!

I ate 4 a piece of the wedding cake. I detest wedding cake, but this cake was crazy good. There was a chocolate layer. There was a spice cake layer. There was a strawberry shortcake layer. The best wedding cake ever.

Ed dancing with Great-Grandma!

He slept through most of the reception.

She couldn't make it to the end.

But he did!

And the next day, our baby turned 2!

"If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!"
-Dolly Parton