THE LAST FIVE ...

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Sunday, Nov. 04, 2001 - 8:08 p.m.

Stop my head, I want to get off

Oooooooh, it's quite wild and surreal to experience such a wonderful night, knowing you had a good time and felt completely joyful and happy and have the residual feelings of the next afternoon continue to make you smile BUT also realize that your memory is sketchy and you lost count of your vodka tonics somewhere around 10 -- drinks, not p.m.

Scott became the first cousin -- out of his older sister Donna, Jessica and myself -- to get married yesterday. Kathleen looked positively gorgeous in each of her dresses -- from the ivory wedding gown to the traditional scarlet Chinese dress to her evening gown and tiara. Casey looked hot in her black dress and I am told I was quite a striking stud in my suit. The ceremony was short and sweet, led by an amusing priest who, toward the end, asked Scott and Kat, "What day is it?" They looked at him for a moment in confusion before he answered for them: "Why, you're wedding day, of course!" He also said toward the end of the ceremony, "Now what is the most important thing here today?" sounding like a teacher quizzing his class.

Knowing that the food would be traditional Chinese cuisine, I prepared myself during the cocktail hour, snagging a pizza bagel or fried cheese ravioli each time the servers walked by. The best part, though, was that the entire thing -- the ceremony and reception -- were on the same floor of the Sheraton LaGuardia East, around the corner from Shea Stadium and within view of the World's Fair grounds. Mom and Dad had their room at one end of the 14th floor, and Jess, Casey and I slept completely at the other end, across the hall, as it turned out, from cousin Donna and former aunt Dot.

So as soon as we filed out into the concourse on the ballroom level, we stood in line for the open bar for the first time (out of many) that night. Inside the Phoenix Room for dinner, Casey, Jess and I sat at what we determined was the Kids Table -- all Scott's first cousins and "Danny's Guest" -- though the youngest was probably in her late teens. I knew Adrianna, but none of the others before last night.

Scott and Kat danced to Aaron Neville and Linda Rondstadt singing "Don't Know Much," so Casey and I refused to take to the dance floor, but later rushed out there for "At Last," just like Ed and Carol at the prom. Later, when the music, for the most part, made the transition from older standards to the "hip hop hits of recent times," as the wedding website promised, the Phoenix Room sounded less like a Saturday night wedding reception in Queens and more like a Saturday night club scene at Tradewinds in Sea Bright. (Man it's so loud in here ...)

The more I think about it, the more I realize how scattered specific details are in my memory. ... I remember one trip to the bar in the lobby to see the Diamondbacks ahead 6-0 in the third inning, then hearing moments later that it was 10-0. The DJ made the announcement that it was 15-0 to a room packed with Yankees fans and a few who cheered for the D'backs because, like a lot of people, they're just so damn tired of the Yankees winning everything. ... I remember a walk outside onto the roof patio and looking down at the carnival just behind the hotel. Later, I went out again and promised not to reveal Donna's "only-drink-when-I-smoke" habit and stand under a surprisingly bright moon and vivid stars in the city. I'd expected more smog interference. ... I remember talking with Uncle Chic and Aunt Donna, with Scott and Kathleen, with some of the cousins and Jason and his girlfriend Amy. ... I remember watching Casey and Jess run to the dance floor to boogie, then come over and force me to join them, though by the time they pulled me from my chair, I was ready. My bag rattled this afternoon as I walked to the car with the plastic maracas, souvenirs from the DJ, packed away, along with the plastic blue lei and the cheap black sunglasses and the commemorative candle. ... I remember Uncle Chic's picking up the tab at the lobby bar after we closed it up at 1 a.m. ... I remember going to get ice and walking through the door that said ICE MACHINE and led instead to a stairwell and no ice machine. So Jess took the bucket and decided to try another floor and found it down one flight. ... I remember a particularly lovely and completely drunk conversation Casey and I had in the bathroom just before brushing our teeth while Jess went for the ice. ... I remember passing out so hard in bed with Casey, who slept diagonally so that at one point so after I returned from the bathroom, I barely had room to lie straight.

At breakfast this morning, Uncle Chic said, "You look like dookie" and I informed him I hadn't showered and was only at breakfast because I was hungry and needed some food to help my head. After eating with Chic and Donna, Mom, Dad and Jess, they left to head home and I returned to sleep in with Casey, passing out again until 10:30 before we whiled away the final 90 minutes before checkout.

Driving home, we passed Shea Stadium and LaGuardia Airport, crossed the Triboro Bridge because the Verrazano was closed for the marathon, and took the Major Deegan up past Yankee Stadium and the Cross Bronx to the George Washington Bridge and into the Garden State. Traffic on the Turnpike slowed as we neared Giants Stadium within half an hour of kickoff between the Giants and Cowboys and we watched the planes land at Newark as we neared the Parkway.

Back at home, I don't think I realized all that had happened at the time. We heated up some leftover pizza and watched "Survivor" and "Ed" before Casey went home and I came to work.

And for the first time I can remember after a thoroughly enjoyable wedding experience, I am still smiling and happy and not melancholy and tired (well, there's some of that) as has been a pattern after such good times. It usually comes from the climax of all the anticipation of the celebration and the natural and unavoidable letdown of knowing that that one single day was and will remain one of the happiest in the lives of all those involved.

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