A Berkeley Wedding

Alex’s childhood friend Kevin Bell recently married his beautiful bride Devon at the Brazilian room in Berkeley, California. It was a gorgeous location for a wedding, nestled amongst the pine tress of Tilden Regional Park, high in the Berkeley hills.

Among the attendees of the wedding, were old Valencia (the town in S.California where Alex grew up) family friends as well as Alex’s parents, Leonard and Lauri. We both agree the setting for this wedding could not have been
more perfect and the married couple looked radiantly in love. It was a wonderful oppotunity for Alex to play catch up on all the high school gossip and for me to meet all the people that played such a large part in Alex’s young life. We spent the weekend of the wedding with our friend Sayo and were able to stay at her family’s home in Berkeley. Their

house is the outdoor enthusiast dream, with an extensive collection of outdoor adventure literature and a backyard full of apple trees and other treasures. Lately, our visits with Sayo have
been limited to quick 24 hr catch up sessions and this was no different. However, as always it was still wonderful to see her and we all promised to make our next visit a bit longer. Taking advantage of our time in Berkeley, we spent hours waundering the streets and hit up every used book store we encountered. Alex’s best friend Bryan and his wife Jane, came into Berkeley for an afternoon to meet us and we were also able to spend a quick night at their place in Palo Alto earlier in the week. While we were with them, Bryan mentioned Barak Obama would be speaking the following afternoon in San Francisco. We were able to get tickets that evening and attend a Women for Obama rally the next day. We were both awed by the charismatic and articulate Barak Obama. We kept saying to ourselves, “If only everyone could see him speak in person. There would be no question who would be the democratic nominee.”
The last morning in Berkeley was the big “first meeting” of the parents. My mom drove down from Santa Rosa and we all had a eventful lunch at Cafe Gratitude, an all organic, vegan, raw food restuarant. All items on the menu began with “I am…” For example, “I am thrilled” or “I am bedazzled.” Once an item is ordered the waitress would then repeat back to you, “You are delighted” or “You are eternally youthful.” It was pretty hilarious. My mom especially got a big kick out of the whole experience. The parents were quite fond of eachother and were able to share their mutual longing for grandchildren. A wish that will not be soon fullfilled by us anytime soon, nor our siblings. Sorry moms and dads.
Following the “meeting of the parents” Alex and I set our for a week of mountain climbing in Yosemite and the Eastern Sierras. But first we spent one last night in a warm comfortable bed. We stayed in Fresno at our new friends Jarrod and Sarah’s home. Jarrod was the best man at the wedding and we were invited to their house Sunday evening, adorable boston terrier puppies were included in the deal. I was in heaven.