{"id":1260,"date":"2011-02-28T21:49:15","date_gmt":"2011-03-01T02:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=1260"},"modified":"2011-02-28T21:49:15","modified_gmt":"2011-03-01T02:49:15","slug":"from-the-brides-fathers-notebook-day-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/?p=1260","title":{"rendered":"From the Bride’s Father’s Notebook – Day 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Bride’s Father’s Notebook – Day 3<\/a><\/p>\n

Wednesday, December 23<\/p>\n

I hung out with my future son-in-law today.\u00a0 Hung out is really the best way to say it.\u00a0 We really didn’t “accomplish” anything, but I think we had fun and, even better, were comfortable together.\u00a0 When I was getting to know my father-in-law, I remember feeling uncomfortable at times, awkward, not always knowing what to talk about or do.\u00a0 We were from different generations after all, but still we managed.\u00a0 Soon, our times together were o.k.<\/p>\n

When I was first married, I don’t think it occurred to me to think too much (well, maybe a little) about what he thought about some guy (me) being physically intimate with his daughter, even though she was my wife.\u00a0 Though the tables are reversed, I don’t think I think too much about that now either (well, maybe a little).\u00a0 The emotionally healthy, progressive part of me wants her, of course, to have a healthy and good relationship with her husband, emotional, spiritual, intellectual and, of course, physical.\u00a0 A little, teeny, primal guy living in my head, (or maybe somewhere else), needs to think twice.\u00a0 I still have a strong sense of needing to protect my little girl from bad things, especially, maybe, this “bad” thing.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that in spite of the natural antagonism that should or could exist between father-in-law and son-in-law, two “rivals” for the same girl, we actually get along very well.<\/p>\n

We first went to the famous Masonic temple in Alexandria.\u00a0 His dad wants to see it while he’s here.\u00a0 What was bonding about that experience was that we couldn’t get in (it was closed) but we struggled together to try.\u00a0 A common enemy, that building, set on a high, steep hill, brought us together.\u00a0 Since it had snowed so much over the weekend, the stairs were still very snow covered.\u00a0 We finally managed to reach the top, picking our way gingerly around sheets of snowy ice.\u00a0 While we made the trek, we chatted about this and that, comfortably filling the time.<\/p>\n

Next we got some lunch at a local Irish pub, my wife’s and my favorite watering hole.\u00a0 We communed together over a pint of Guinness and ate decent Irish bar-food: a sandwich, sausages, chips, onion rings.\u00a0 He was concerned about all we had to do before the wedding, so I took a napkin and my pen and said, “Okay, let’s make a list.”\u00a0 It was a good move on my part (allow me to brag a bit), and we made a list of the tasks at hand, realizing there wasn’t all that much we didn’t have time for or weren’t doing already.\u00a0 We also talked religion, a delicate subject most anytime, but potentially tricky between us.\u00a0 He and my daughter are different religions and I didn’t want to sound or be pushy.\u00a0 It turned out well.\u00a0 We shared a cordial back-and-forth.<\/p>\n

After lunch, we walked through a historic building, now a set of artists’ studios.\u00a0 He liked seeing the art. I have to admit it:\u00a0 he’s a real\u00a0 good guy and seems a good match for my daughter.\u00a0 I’ll be glad to welcome him into the family.<\/p>\n

I crossed one more hurdle that day with ease, checking into two rooms at the hotel where the groom’s parents, grandmother, and the groom and bride will be staying.\u00a0 Through a family friend we were able to get an excellent rate for these two hotel rooms plus two more at a different hotel which we’ll claim on Saturday.\u00a0 We four inspected the rooms and found them wonderful, an early Christmas present.\u00a0 With a little kitchen area, plenty of space, and a hugely screened t.v., the rooms were just right.<\/p>\n

From The Bride’s Father’s Notebook – Introduction<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the Bride’s Father’s Notebook – Day 3 Wednesday, December 23 I hung out with my future son-in-law today.\u00a0 Hung out is really the best way to say it.\u00a0 We really didn’t “accomplish” anything, but I think we had fun … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[40],"tags":[118,153,133,60,154,42],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1260"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1427,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1260\/revisions\/1427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thelifeliterary.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}