Monday, April 25

11:45 am
Kitchen

Gorgeous Monday morning, feels like early summer.  Getting ready to head out for lunch with Cate.  Maybe we'll wander around and window-shop in the Village a little if I can convince her to blow off work for a couple hours.

Got Mom & Dad up and out a couple hours ago, so it's just us.  Hate to go back to the City tonight, but Cate and I both have stuff to do tomorrow.  Gotta go be grown-ups, as she says.

I have plenty to do, for damned sure.  Got an email from the White House this morning; not every day that happens, ha ha.  Info for the next Committee meeting, a reminder on our taskers.  I need to get some stuff together to send down to DC; have to get the Foundation staff on that.  Plus I have a bunch to read up on before the next meeting.

Better get working on it today; next week full-on crazy begins again.  Full tour schedule until end of May, then family stuff, then we head across the Pond.  Back to the grind.

And if that's not enough crazy, we have all the family stuff thrown in -- Jakey's and Steph's birthdays, Steph's graduation, plus all the school events that happen this time of year.  I wish I was gonna be around more to do some of them; I know Dorothea's planning to chaperone Jesse's field trip and there's some kind of carnival or something for Jake and Romeo's school.  I think Cate's gonna do something with that one too.

Plus Steph has Prom coming up.  At least I'll be here for that, to see my Princess off on her big night with Brendan.  And to watch the clock until she comes home, ha ha.

She was so excited yesterday when I told her about Nikki doing her prom dress.  I felt like the Best Daddy in the World when I saw that big, beaming smile.  Steph said she already has some ideas what she wants, she was gonna do some sketches last night when she got home.

I'm sure Nikki will come up with something great.  She's coming in Wednesday for some meetings and is gonna have dinner with me and Dorothea and Steph Wednesday night to talk things over.  Then the girls will do their thing this coming weekend, pick fabrics and decorations and whatever shit you do to build a prom dress.

It's so damned much easier being the guy on Prom Night.  You just shut up and wear whatever color bowtie and cumberbund your date tells you to wear, ha ha.  Not that I'd know -- I skipped out on prom, both years. But not on the post-Prom rituals, heh heh.

Speaking of which, I need to have a little chat with Brendan.

Well Hallelujah!  My Wife just emerged from her conference call.  Time to drag her out the door before she opens her email and I lose her for another hour, ha ha.  It's too pretty a day to be stuck inside.  She can make up those work hours later.

10:30 pm
Living Room

Well my schedule just got a whole lot crazier.

Apparently I'm going to Vegas over Memorial Day weekend.  With Cate.  The Best Man.

Danny and Charity finally picked a date.  Well, I guess it's more that they figured out when they can fit tying the knot into their own crazy schedules, ha ha.  Danny's going out on a deployment mid-June and Charity's getting detailed to some big INTERPOL case and will be in Toronto for the next who-the-fuck-knows how long.  This weekend they went to visit her family in California and just decided "fuck it, let's go to Vegas."

So that's what they're doing.  Memorial Day weekend.  But at least they aren't going to the Graceland Chapel.  That's not exactly a place either Cate or I really care to revisit.  To many ghosts there.

I never pictured myself as a married-to-the-Best-Man kinda guy, ha ha.

Of course Cate being there goes without saying, but in addition my presence is required.  I wouldn't dream of missing it anyway, but apparently even thinking of missing this wedding is not an option, ha ha.  That's gonna make for one full weekend -- it's Steph's birthday and she graduates the following week.  Not to mention Prom and all the pre-Graduation and pre-summer break soirees that go on all damned week long.

Don't know how I'm gonna fit all that in.  I'll do it somehow -- I don't want to miss any of those events.  God knows it won't be the first time I airport-hop across North America in a matter of a few days.  May have to charter a private jet this time, though.  I'm getting too damned old to deal with commerical flights on a tight schedule.  And I'm pretty sure there will be at least one red-eye involved.

It's probably a good thing I'm going along for another reason... since Cate's the Best Man she's in charge of the Bachelor Party.  Not the Bachelorette Party -- the Bachelor Party.  She's already cackling wickedly and texting Richie for his recommendation of the best Gentleman's Club in Vegas.  And she muttered something about getting Danny's 4 brothers in on some wicked plot.

Holy Christ, I can see it now.... this weekend has the potential to make The Hangover look like a tea party, ha ha.

This oughta be interesting....