Riki's Wedding

Jim and I went to his cousin Riki’s wedding reception Saturday night. We were not invited to the actual wedding ceremony, as it was apparently a small, private affair held earlier that afternoon. Riki is the daughter of Aunt Mavis, Bev’s younger sister. When Riki was born, her father, Rick, was disappointed that she was a girl because he intended to name his first child after himself. I didn’t know Uncle Rick very well, as he passed away shortly after Jim and I were married, but most relatives do not speak of him in a very positive light. Anyway, Uncle Rick insisted that his newborn be known as some variation of “Richard,” so his daughter was christened Richelle. The year after Riki was born, Aunt Mavis and Uncle Rick had another baby, and this time it was a boy. If they would have just had the patience to wait, Rick could have had his little Rick, Jr. a short time later. They went on to have two more sons in two more years, and Rick apparently never got over the fact that he wasted his good name on a daughter. Nice guy.

Riki ended up marrying an old family friend, who is a divorced father of four young kids. His children looked adorable and seemed quite attached to Riki. Bev’s cousin, Nancy, had originally planned to pick her up for the wedding, and then the two of them were going to sleep over at another relative’s house. At the last minute, however, Nancy had to cancel, so Debbie agreed to drive Bev to the shindig. Bev was well behaved, but did keep referring to her senior apartment as her place of employment. She spoke of leaving her job at five o'clock, punching out, and forgetting her bag of Hershey bars on her desk at work. Sigh. Overall, the reception ended up being very enjoyable. And now Riki, who always vowed to have a “household goods shower” for herself if she had not tied the knot before she turned 40, has all the domestic items she needs. Including a ready-made family. And, since she recently celebrated her 40th birthday, her engagement and wedding shower both occurred within her self-imposed time frame. Whew.