The In-Laws

When you marry a person, you’re not just marrying that person, but their family as well. Isn’t that what they say? I don’t know if I buy that or not, but I do know that in-laws can be problematic to a happy marriage. Trust me.

I now have in-laws. Lots and lots of in-laws. When your husband is the youngest of NINE (can you say Catholic?), the in-laws extend well beyond the horizon. None of them, however, live in Nashville or anywhere in Tennessee so I’ve only met a very small percentage of Daniel’s family. (Although I have heard plenty of stories about the rest of them!)

We spent this past weekend in Louisville Kentucky – the epicenter of the in-laws – to spend a little time with select members of the clan. No trip to Louisville would be complete without a special visit to The Favorite Niece. With eight siblings all older than him, Daniel has nieces and nephews (and even a few great nieces and nephews) in abundance, but only one with whom he shares a kindred relationship. It would be difficult not to like this woman. Smart and sarcastic but genuinely warm, she shares the same dry sense of humor as Daniel. Plus, she’s a hardcore animal advocate, rescuing and rehabilitating animals of all kinds when she’s not making a living as a vet tech, so I love her already. She’s the kind of interesting, independent woman I would be drawn to even if she wasn’t a part of my family.

Then there are The Girls. This may be a misnomer on my part, but I can’t help it because even though “The Girls” are in their 80’s, they’re just so darn adorable I feel compelled to put them in my pockets every time we see them. One half of The Girls duo is Daniel’s mother and the other half is her sister. The sister has been a nun all her life; that fact alone is bordering on precious. And she’s not one of those overly serious, dour nuns. While she would never utter a bad word about anybody, she has an unmistakable twinkle in her eye and a wicked wit to complement her generous spirit.

My mother-in-law (not a nun…for obvious reasons) is the kind of person who would give you the shirt off her back without a second thought and then give you her trousers as well (figuratively of course). And then she’d thrust upon you the most deliciously melting, eyes-rolling-to-the-back-of-your-head, Christmas cookies (literally of course). Mother-in-laws get a bad rap, but I definitely lucked out on that front. She’s gracious, completely unpretentious, and playfully returns all ribbing from her horrid children (just kidding…they’re not all horrid).

Plus, The Girls’ mother was Katherine DeFelice, so I’m in.

I also met another sibling (I am now up to 3 out of 8), and a nephew. It’s a little weird to suddenly be a part of such an enormous family. Daniel has already met Every. Single. Member. of my family. No, seriously, he has. Including ALL of my aunts and uncles, grandparents, step parents, even all of my cousins and some of my second cousins.

One of my sisters-in-law and The Favorite Niece predicted if we had decided to have a traditional wedding, it would have been frighteningly similar to My Big Fat Greek Wedding (Strike Greek. Insert Italian.)

I suppose eventually I’ll have met all of my in-laws. I haven’t yet met one I dislike. Surely that’s a good sign.

Weekend In Retrospect

Friday 6:30 p.m. – 9:15 p.m.: Pizza and red velvet cupcakes eaten at Jon & Becky’s prior to our weekly world religion class. The class continues to be engaging (more on that later – hopefully) and they are such a funny bunch that I tend to linger after class. Which is why from 9:15 p.m. – 9:40 p.m. I was speeding (though not recklessly) like a bat out of hell from Franklin to Hillsboro Village where I was supposed to meet Daniel at 9:30 p.m. at the Belcourt where they were showing the 5 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts.

Friday 9:40 p.m. – 11:10 p.m.: I love animated short films. Love them. Animated shorts are like little gems of film art – typically they are visually oriented and the stories they tell are simplistic by necessity, but often convey incredible depth. Last year, F and I went to one of the animated shorts programs during the Nashville Film Fest, so when I noticed the Belcourt schedule, excitement ensued. And I was not disappointed. I’ll admit though that I have a favorite amongst this year’s nominees. The Russian animated short by Alexander Petrov called My Love (Moya Lyubov) is spectacularly gorgeous.

Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.: I had a bevy of things To-Do before Dan and I left for Lousiville which included: clean kitchen; take out garbage; clean litter box; do a load of laundry; water plants; go to store to purchase cat food, cat litter, razors, and WD-40; take car to Rojo Red’s (yes, that is the actual name of the car washing place) to thoroughly clean interior of car, get adhesive residue off of car left over from window exploding incident, and wash exterior of car; pack an overnight bag appropriate for attending the theater and meeting Dan-family members; shower; and get gas.

Saturday 3:30 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.: Pleasant car ride from Nashville to Louisville including one stop to acquire necessary provisions (water and diet coke).

Saturday 7:45 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.: Met random Dan-family members for dinner, funny conversation, and lessons on shooting water through one’s teeth (I have yet to master this skill but am working on it) at Chili’s.

Sunday 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: Showered and conducted various primping and prepping rituals which mostly involved cajoling my hair into some semblance of respectability.

Sunday 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: Our theater companions, Millie and Mary - 80-something year old sisters with a penchant for pastels were so gosh-darn cute I just wanted to pick them up and put them in my pocket.

Sunday 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m.: I am not a fan of the buffet (even salad bars kinda gross me out) except when that buffet is the gloriously indulgent and lavish brunch buffet served at Louisville’s historic Seelbach Hotel in the luxurious Oak Room where they artfully prepare and display their culinary offerings. Unfortunately, sweat pants are not included in the dress code, so I had to stop eating well before my eyes were ready to.

Sunday 12:45 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.: Mad-dash to the performing arts center on a very full stomach.

Sunday 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.: Okay, so have you seen the new Tim Burton film adaptation of Sweeny Todd? You haven’t!? Well jeezuz! Go! Go right now… I’ll wait …Alright, so now I’m sure you’ll agree that it is a production worthy of the genius Burton’s legacy of stunning and imaginative visual wizardry. Yes? Plus, it's a neat story – darkly and heartbreakingly comical with great performances by Johnny Depp, Alan Rickman, and Helena Bonham Carter. Even the unknowns (well unknown at least to me) gave skilled performances.

So, I was eager to compare Burton’s film version with the live musical and was able to do so from the 2nd row of the Grand Tier. However, there is no comparison. No, really, you can’t compare them. It’s oranges and apples. They are two totally different animals, each one fascinating and entertaining but in completely different ways. There was only one set for the stage musical and every performer also played an orchestra instrument. So, the entire cast (who was also the entire orchestra and entire stage crew) was onstage at all times either singing, acting, playing music, altering the set, or engaged in some simultaneous combination of those things. Besides it being abominably unfair that a person gets to be THAT talented, it was jaw-droppingly amazing. A very alternativey musical and I dug it. Yep.

Sunday 4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.: (there’s a one hour time difference – yay) Seemingly endless drive from Louisville to Nashville on 2 lane highways with other drivers who were so annoying it made me wish I was driving a big black rubber vehicle so I could just ram into them. Hmm…road rage much?

Sunday 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.: Snuffling of the kitty cats. Oh, they love it!