Weekend Done Like Water Off a Duck

I'm so tired.

We had my aunt's wedding on Saturday. I forgot how long it takes for us to drive to Toronto. I had hoped we'd get there with a half-hour to spare so Daughter and I could rehearse.

Did I mention that as my aunt and her fiancé were leaving Middle Child's communion, the conversation turned to Daughter's violin playing?

"Oh, I'd love it if you could play something at my wedding!" Auntie exclaimed.

Middle Sister piped up, "She'd love to. She's good too. I'm sure she'll pick something really nice."

So from there, Daughter was to play Pachelbel's Canon as Auntie walked up the aisle. Grudgingly. Daughter does NOT like to perform in front of people. Unlike her mother, she's quite shy.

As the days wore on, Daughter became more and more upset until this week when, in convulsions, she was about to give up. I opened my pie hole and said that I'd unearth a flute and accompany her. Yes, a flute.

I haven't played one since I was 13 and pretty much strong-armed into doing it by my grandfather. Initially, an instrumental music class was offered to the gifted students of my elementary school which my parents were very keen on. That evolved into the expectation that I would one day sit with my clarinetist grandfather in his marching band. To understand my mindset, I was very aware that there were no flutes in any Ramones songs.

Anyway, so, yeah, I got the flute out of retirement. The first day of practice was relearning how to breathe. I forgot how to do that so I was getting dizzy. Then I had to review scales. But by the end of the week, I realized I wasn't going to be able to do the harmony all the way through so we figured a way for Daughter to play something more difficult while I just fumbled through.

And, in the end, we had to cut it even shorter, without the flourishing end because the city hall wedding chapel aisle is pretty short and Auntie walks at a clip. And that suited Daughter just fine. Mind you, at the spur of the moment, she decided to play the newly wed couple out with Ode To Joy. No practice ... and you could tell. But it was the thought that counted.

The reception was at this beautiful restaurant in Don Mills. It was converted from a heritage home just south of the 401. Thankfully, we were assigned a separate area. Thankfully because we're a loud bunch. Thankfully because I wondered how long it would take for the kids to start goofing off. Thankfully because it's almost inevitable that someone was going to drink too much.

You know you've had too much when the wait staff literally takes away your table and you're left sitting all alone in a chair. The funny thing is that this relative still brought out his cell phone and checked his messages or whatever, as if this was normal. My younger cousins and I were giggling at this and reveled at how half the family can hold their liquor and the other half can't. "Maybe it's those of us with the big nose that can control it," observed my cousin M. There's got to be an upside to this nose, right?

I ordered the duck and then offered my niece and my kids a taste, without telling them it's Daffy. They all liked it. Then, before I tucked in, I told them what they ate.

Anyway, crazy as it was, I decided that we should drive all the way home. It was a good choice for everyone involved. We were to have slept over at my parents' since we were all going to Oldest Nephew's communion the next day, but I knew my mum wasn't going to be up for company. And I really like my bed.

Actually, a big reason was because I promised Middle Sister that I would bake a nut-free cake and I forgot! When I got home, I thought I would bake the layers and freeze them for easy frosting the next morning but I realized I was out of eggs. I went to bed and woke up at some ungodly hour (when will I get a full night's sleep???). I hauled my ass out of bed and went to the 24-hour grocery store in town. In my Tinkerbell pyjamas. Because I could. And I made a pretty awesome cake to every specification Oldest Nephew gave me earlier in the week (chocolate cake with vanilla icing in the centre and green on the top. I added some chocolate chips between the layers. Huzzah). It looked great. Too bad Middle Child dropped a book on it on our drive down. We had to pull over off the highway so I could fix it. Boy, was I pissed.

Off to Middle Sister's in what we thought would be ample time but traffic was crazy for a Sunday (and that fixing the cake thing). We pulled into the driveway much later than we anticipated and, as a result, didn't have enough time to get a seat at the church. So I played with my other nephew who was left at home with a very huge Baby Sister and her cankles.

Middle Sister really knows how to lay out a spread. There was so much food, it was crazy. After all the rich food at my aunt's wedding, all I could manage to eat was a self-made veal-on-a-bun and some green beans. And Dr. Pepper! What a treat.

And I still woke up at the crack of dawn to hit my class at the gym this morning. I could have skipped it and tried for some extra minutes of sleep but I can still feel that duck swishing around my gut, I think.