80th Pre-Birthday Bash!

Steve's mother will turn eighty next February. Since all of her children, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren attended the wedding, we held a pre-birthday bash at the Sun Ray Grill in the Warehouse District of New Orleans. Steve's mother and father are incredible because they still have enough get up and go to dance on stage at the wedding reception the night before this celebration. We look forward to sharing many more birthdays with them in the years to come. Below is a photobucket and video of the celebration, followed by a very prestigious award won by the official dance king of the wedding reception.

It goes without saying that everyone loves Pamela, and she is a favorite with the Glasers. David astonished them with his height and asked if we sprinkled Miracle-Gro on his head. He towers over all but one of his cousins! They must think we can transfer our ability to grow a giant kid to the garden because someone gave us this book about growing super vegetables. As I have a black thumb in both the kitchen and garden and Steve's porch ferns look luscious, he will be the one to grow super veggies.

And, now, our very important announcement of the winner of the Dance King contest. But first, you need a little background. The Glasers have many talents, and, while singing is not one of them, they are excellent dancers. They lived in Central America for many years (and some of the Glasers still do) and know how to keep time with a Latin beat. David has never joined in on dancing because he was a tender (and short) lad of twelve at the last bash we attended. After Pamela and I had retired to the safety of our hotel room and collapsed in a head-cold haze, David decided to hang out at the reception. Steve felt pity on Pamela and I and hung out with us. Suddenly, we receive an urgent call from his sisters. "Stevie, you have to see David! You didn't tell us he could dance! He's got moves we've never seen!"

David never told us he could dance either. . . So, while Pamela was the Princess of the Programs, David was King of the Dance! The next day someone tossed one of the Glasers these beads. In New Orleans, you don't need a reason for beads--any excuse will do. They thought it would make the perfect impromptu spontaneous award for the dance king.

David gave an encore performance with Tia Julia before and after receiving this award. Tia Janet pronounced him the winner. Enjoy!

Lunch at Mother's

No, not Steve's mother! Mother's Restaurant is a popular place to get typical New Orleans style, home-cooked food. People wait in line for food here, and we did as you can see in the photo of Pamela and her grandfather! David and I were not hungry, so he had a bag of Zapp's potato chips (I have forgotten how addictive they are) and I ate Pamela's bread and a leftover biscuit. Pamela ate red beans and rice, recalling what we ate every New Year's Day when we lived in Louisiana.

Pamela and Tia Patty


A Big Group Shot


Steve's Cousins and Bernard


Backdating Her Journal


Pamela Walking with Tia Julie


The Glaser Cousins


Menfolk

The Rehearsal and Rehearsal Dinner

Pamela came downstairs dressed in her rehearsal dinner attire and wowed her aunties and grandparents. They thought she looked smashing! She and her babies hung out with her Tia Susie in the courtyard until we were ready to go. Tia Susie showed her all of the baby clothes she purchased for her first grandchild due in two months. Pamela and her tia compared many of the items to her babies, but all of the hats, booties, onesies, etc. were too big for Pamela’s babies.

The rehearsal was at 6:30 and was mercifully fast. The chapel is absolutely beautiful, and I am looking forward to seeing it in full wedding splendor tomorrow. Pamela and I (or Steve) will stand behind the back pew, facing the front door, next to a table that will hold a basket for the folded programs. I will hand one to Pamela, and, if all goes well, she will hand one to the guests, which may reach a hundred. If Pamela bails, Steve and I will be her back-ups! We practiced our little assembly line pattern a couple of times and that was it for us. One thing I love about the bride and groom is that they are laid back, relaxed, and putting everyone at ease. I hate stuffy, toxic affairs, and the wedding promises to be the exact opposite!

We stayed in the garden district for dinner. We slowly filled a banquet room, and Pamela patiently waited while they served wine and the appetizer (stuffed crab). Alyson started handing out gifts to those assisting with the wedding, including this tree stand for Pamela's room. Pamela peeked in the bag with this perplexed look. She looked at Alyson and then me, so I smiled broadly and said, "You can hang things on it in your room. It will look beautiful." Pamela still wasn't too sure but relaxed and did not toss it over her shoulder like she used to do with other unwanted gifts.

Pamela could not eat anything from the dinner, so we ordered her a burger and fries, which made Alyson's brother James (not to be confused with the groom James or her grandfather James) mouth water. He asked if he could have a bite, and she chomped on her burger and said, "No!"

Steve had wondered off to chat with his sisters, so Pamela placed her babies next to her in his chair. I was completely delighted, surprised, and, in tears, when Nancy Kashman and her husband Steve (not to be confused with my Steve or the Steve two seats to my right) arrived all the way from Phoenix. Nancy, an OT certified in Sensory Integration, helped me figure out Pamela's sensory needs early on, and she has followed Pamela's progress since she was about four years old. The last time Pamela and Nancy met was in 2000 when we visited them the weekend they opened their deli and put their waiters through the gluten-free, casein-free wringer.

After we hugged, Nancy knelt next to half-starved Pamela, who was just digging into her long-awaited meal. Nancy says, "I remember working with you when you were this high. So, how old are you now?" Pamela eats a fry, and says, "I'm nineteen years old and I have two babies!"

Nancy and I nearly collapsed on the floor, laughing! When she recovered, Nancy said, "That was beautiful! She answered my question and elaborated on it."

Pamela stayed with us in the very loud, crowded room and sat next to her grandmother while I chatted with Nancy. Nancy was astonished at how calmly Pamela sat there. She noticed how much more Pamela uses her eyes to track what was happening and how much more facial expression she has. She was very impressed, especially when you consider that we woke up at four EST to fly to New Orleans and Pamela was hanging on at nine CST at night in a very noisy setting. When she had reached her limit, she asked if she could sit on the floor, so Pamela sat in the corner with her babies and rocked a little. About a half hour later, Steve and her went back to the room. We never even had a hint of a meltdown the entire night! Not one hint!

Pamela's cousin James put it all into perspective, "I am amazed. I remember every Christmas we never saw Pamela because she couldn't handle the noise. She'd hide in the bedroom of our house in LaPlace and watch videos. Look at her. She's sitting at the table, handling it all!"

The Trip to New Orleans

Why am I up at 5:30 blogging? All these words are rolling around in my head. If I don't get it out of my system, I will not be able to fall back asleep! So, there!

We woke up at four in the morning yesterday. Pamela dressed, played on the computer, and watched television while we got ready to go. At about 5:15, we were gearing up to leave the house and I noticed Pamela was holding a little bag that she used for storing her tape cassettes for stimming. Rather than tell her imperatively to put it away, I looked at it with curiosity and said, “I wonder what’s in the bag.” I held out my hand and Pamela brought it to me. When I opened the bag, I was in awe! Pamela had backed all of her baby essentials in the baby’s own luggage! That right there almost made the trip worth it because it seemed like she was trading her stimming for people!

We drove an hour and a half to Charleston and checked our luggage in the dark, hoping to avoid the Nor'easter that had already plunged temperatures into the sixties. Pamela traveled light. She wore her purple backpack with its solitary spiral notebook and pencil. She carried her babies, Baby Alive and David, and their luggage. A couple of times, Steve asked her if she wanted to put them in her backpack for our convenience while going through security checkpoints. NO! Those were her babies and she was treating them like real people. She hung onto them for the entire trip. The man at the curb of the airport said, "Now, don't drop your baby!" She gave him a double-take and replied, "You're joking! Comedy!"

Pamela loves flying and riding buses, escalators, elevators, trains, and subways, so she finds navigating in and out of airports easy. We took an early flight to Houston and had about a ninety-minute layover before catching one to New Orleans. David and I giggled our way through the cheesy shopping catalog in the seat pocket. I could spend an entire post about the burp gun, marshmallow gun, and myriad of useless gadgets that would make Billy Mays weep. On one page is a sappy pillow with the words “Kiss me before you fall asleep” and on the other is a dog tag that says, “I like to kiss my dog.” EW!

David lucked out on the last leg of the trip. Since Steve has a platinum card with that airline, the computer upgraded him to first class. He wanted to sit next to Pamela, so he switched with David. Imagine being sixteen and flying first class! The second flight was the worst for me. The pressure on my eardrums was fearsome, but they withstood the landing. I felt like I had vertigo for the rest of the day and my left ear did not clear up until the next day!

We arrived in New Orleans hassle-free, rented our car, and headed to the French Quarter where our hotel is. Driving from the airport downtown was a shock. The landscape has completely changed right down to the sound barriers along I-10 and the massive pumping station adjacent to it. The old, rotating cow along I-10 that amused on my way home was gone. Familiar buildings are damaged, restored, or gone: so many complexes in sad condition or newly restored. Katrina happened three years ago and completely changed the face of New Orleans.

When we arrived at the hotel, we bumped into Pamela’s aunt and mother of the bride, Janet, and the bride, Alyson. Pamela had not seen Alyson in about five years because the few times we have visited family in Louisiana she was either attending college or working in Mississippi. At first, Pamela had no idea who this strange woman was and her face was completely blank. I said to her, “Pamela, Alyson is a grown up and ready to be married.” Suddenly, her eyes lit up and an enormous grin bloomed on her face when Pamela finally recognized her cousin.

After we checked-in, we collapsed in our room for two hours before getting ready for the next item on the agenda, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner.