Monday Monday 2.16.2009 Part I

Hi Everyone

Since the frequency of my letters dwindled over the past month, you all probably feel entitled to a Monday Monday Mini Series. Only once before did I write a three part bonus installment edition of Monday Monday with a To Be Continued style theme. With that in mind, I urge you to check your email often with the understanding that a new chapter could appear in your inbox at any time.

We closed the books on January a few weeks ago, and in the first month of 2009, the Bullet Train that is my life made stops in Maryland, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Mexico (keep in mind that I work in Maryland and travel through most of the other states on my way there).

Maggie and I just returned from a trip to Mexico where we witnessed the marriage of Maggie's cousin Lara to her new husband Cesar. Our plane left Charlotte on the last Thursday morning in January. We stopped in Atlanta to switch planes, but made it to Mexico City at about 2:00PM. Lara and Cesar met us at the Airport, and the weekend rollercoastered from there.

Witnessing the Mexican tradition of marriage made for a once in a lifetime experience that I will undoubtedly remember forever. In short, we saw live people dancing with live turkeys, Lara (with a bottle of tequila in hand) chasing Cesar (wearing an apron) through the street (an area that also doubled as the reception hall), a mob hoisting up the bride and groom and tossing them as high into the air as humanly possible, and another mob attempting to knock the newly married couple out of their chairs. Believe it or not, all this happened during the “first dance” section of the wedding.

I also learned where the phrases “blocking off the street” and “road block” come from. During the wedding reception hours, traffic could not pass by Cesar’s house because bricks were literally laid down in the road to prevent automobiles from travelling through. Even if people did get through the blocks, they would next have to bolster their way through a 25 foot high tower of speakers for the all night DJ, then through all the tables and chairs, and then through the bandstand set up for live music on the other side. I could include a picture of this scene, but it wouldn’t do the sight any justice; you had to experience it.

I can’t say enough about the scenery on Lara and Cesar’s actual wedding day, but I’d commit an injustice by not mentioning the previous day’s activities. The other Americans and I stood by as we witnessed town-wide and weekend-long participation in the preparation for this special day. No less than 50 people packed the center court yard of Cesar’s parent’s house to pluck 250 chickens, make god knows how many tortillas, and they worked well into the nights making somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 tamales. During this tamale production Cesar grabbed me to help serve shots of tequila to all the hard working people. I think the crowd consumed three liters of tequila in about 10 minutes. . . .I don’t think we can serve three liters that fast in America.

On the subject of Tequila, I should point out that each table at the wedding was provided one bottle of soda, one bottle of tequila, and all the beer we could hold. When that ran out, you didn’t even have to get up before another bottle of soda, tequila, or beer replaced the empty.
This email has already reached one page in length, so with brevity in mind, I’ll have to wrap it up. But I can’t finish this chapter without mentioning my favorite part of the wedding in Mexico: Lara’s arrival at the church and the procession that followed. At 15 minutes before the hour, Cesar made his way down the street to wait at the door of the church. At 5 minutes before the hour, Lara made her way out of the house, down the street, and met Cesar at the entrance. Lara is immediately followed by a mariachi band singing and playing music as she walks. All of the family, friends, neighbors, and witnesses followed the band and Lara down the street and to the church. The whole thing was beautifully done like something out of a storybook!

In my next installment, I’ll take everyone back to Mexico City where I’ll discuss the parallel universes of Babylon 5 (the science fiction television series from the mid 90’s) and the location of the all time world’s biggest kiss.

Ryan-- Ryan Joy