With Mary

It was more than a little special to have a visit from Mary who came all the way from Ukraine to be in our friend Cindy's wedding in Chicago. I was house-sitting that weekend, so I had a car to pick her up at the airport, run some errands, and buy groceries so we could make a lovely meal together. I went downtown with Mary on Friday morning to spend some time together before she had to get ready for the rehearsal.



The wedding was at this beautiful church in Bucktown, a north-west neighborhood of Chicago that looked like a fun place to explore at some later date. I would've had some time, but the train I took into the city was 40 minutes late, so after a bus ride and a walk I arrived at the church hot and sweaty with barely enough time to change into my dress. I forgot to wash the bicycle chain grease off my legs. I guess that's semi-formal.

It was fun to catch up a bit with some of my sisters' friends from Maryland who came out for the wedding. I was even pleasantly surprised to run into a couple from New Jersey whom I didn't realize knew the groom. One of them had kept up with him from their Princeton days, a decade past. There was a good-sized group from Princeton, and as I was dreading a painful farewell to Donna the next day, it was encouraging to think that I can look forward to reunions with college friends at weddings, even years from now.

Back at the hotel, exhausted from a wonderful evening celebrating Cindy and Jeff.