The Ladder Herald

It's Fun to Have Fun But You Have to Know How

Jonah's dear old pal, Owen. They were kids together. They were toilet trained together. True bonding. Our patented technique involved a "pantsless summer"—I'll say no more!

Whee!

*

A Toast

There were toasts at the wedding on Friday night, I love this part of a celebration so much if the people are cool and smart! (And they were.)

Jonah really wanted to get up and use the microphone and he tricked me into going up with him. He was going to sing, "I Like To Move It" to Sarah and Jeffrey with my help, but at the last minute he wouldn't do it!

While I was up there I tried to talk a little bit about how moved I felt watching Sarah and Jeffrey get married. I was just appreciating getting to witness Sarah as she has lived her life. (I think I met Julia's little sister almost 15 years ago!)

In the toast I said that I used to have this really rigid idea about community. That it meant living with people, seeing them everyday—maybe even a certain sameness to everyone's lives. But now I feel like my idea is changing, and becoming more open and alive. And I felt so moved by the brilliance of Sarah, the little sister, so grown up and getting married. And such a wonderful couple! It makes me feel that I am part of a real community—this sort of extended family that really exists and comes together to mark events and make rituals.

(And I am sad to say that that old idea of community always strangled itself, in my experience. Although I know others have had beautiful success.)

This makes me feel like I am growing up too!

Beaufort Wind Force Scale

While Sarah and Jeffrey were getting married this weekend, this dramatic gust of warm wind came blowing into the ceremony. Those of us in the congregation were facing the forest and could see it coming over and through the trees: moving each separate leaf in a long sweep. It was beautiful. And it seemed appropriate for the two people joining their lives—forces of nature. Sarah's Dad called her a superhero.

Claire's Mom Jan told me about the Beaufort wind force scale when she was visiting a few weeks ago. She's a birder and they use it to assess the likelihood that birds will be about. She said she's always loved the beauty of the words and wanted to write it into a poem.

(The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure for describing wind velocity based mainly on observed sea conditions. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale.)

Beaufort Scale

There is a scale for sea too, but I like the one for land (and that is where Sarah and Jeff were married):

0 - Calm. Smoke rises vertically.

1 - Wind motion visible in smoke.

2 - Wind felt on exposed skin. Leaves rustle.

3 - Leaves and smaller twigs in constant motion.

4 - Dust and loose paper raised. Small branches begin to move.

5 - Smaller trees sway.

6 - Large branches in motion. Whistling heard in overhead wires. Umbrella use becomes difficult.

7 - Whole trees in motion. Effort needed to walk against the wind.

8 - Twigs broken from trees. Cars veer on road.

[9 - 12 are boring words.]

Here's a few from the sea-scale:

2 - Small wavelets. Crests of glassy appearance, not breaking.

7 - Sea heaps up and foam begins to streak.

8 - Moderately high waves with breaking crests forming spindrift. Streaks of foam.

(I know the wind is causing the terrible fires down there now, so sad.)

Beautiful Los Angeles Wedding This Weekend

I will write some in a bit, but for now...some images...

Here we are (below) in the airport, 30 minutes into our trip. Already G and I are wanting to reinstate the "travel ban" we created when Jonah was younger:

Also, got to see dear ones (Jessica and Chris):

The handsome groom, Jeffrey, (with the handsome boyfriend and handsome baby):

And the brilliant, shining bride, Sarah Randall Cole, and her beautiful sister, Julia, talking things over:

And here is Ben, giving Jonah and Rye his blessing:

I am trying to get a flickr account today, so photos should be easier to deal with soon.

Bye!

Admiringly

I am a guest blogger tonight on my friend Jamie's blog, Should We Flee The City.

Jamie is the reason I have a blog. Her writing and photos inspired me and kicked my ass into gear.

She asked me all these nice questions: girls are so good at it.

whereshouldwelive

I feel like Jamie and I, and a few other girls I know, are alike in all these ways that make us feel jealous of each other when one of us breaks out and does something cool. But it's a good jealousy because it is totally above-board. "I am so jealous of you!" we say to each other, and then we go and make what we want happen for ourselves. There is safety somehow to say it and it does not fester. That is what happened when I saw Jamie's blog. And that is what happened when I figured out that I felt jealous of Anastasia being a therapist. Or Julia publishing poems and being serious about poetry. Or Kate quitting her job when she was ready. Or Justine's bravery in coming out to our whole family. I want to be like that, I think, and then I can more easily be like that.

I don't mean to imply that it is easy—but that is why I think it is cool. Jealousy can be humiliating. It is so powerful to own it! It's half way to outgrowing it, maybe.

Thank you my ladies! I toast you with my evening margarita!

Love,

The Green Eyed Monster