A Day of Future Past

My father had been practically waiting outside the bedroom door for me to wake up to begin spending time with his absent son. He had already made breakfast, tea, and dessert and the table sat waiting for the Ozerkov boys to take their seats. Eating breakfast my glance could not help but linger at the fully grey head of my father. Again time seemed to be harassing me. I remembered him a younger man, with less wrinkles and the solid black hair. I did not let his appearance fool me. The wrinkles and greys could not contain that little mans energy and drive. I would still have a hard time keeping up with that man. I am glad I am my father’s son. He definitely passed on these particular traits to me and I am most  grateful for it.

After breakfast we were off to my good friends wedding. He was one of my groomsmen and a long childhood friend. It was a joy to see him so happy. I get mixed feelings at weddings. I am stoked for the two standing at the alter. I am so excited for this new wonderful life that they are about to start together. I start to think about past relationships and why they didn’t work. I start to ask myself when I would get married and then mentally slap myself reminding my wandering mind that I have yet to find someone that will keep up with my craziness. I leave that conversation content with where I am. The ceremony was in a beautiful church and I started to see many familiar faces. Many of them would walk by not recognizing me or introduce themselves to me in English thinking I was an American. The beard and long hair add a few years to my appearance making it difficult to recognize me.

Reception was decorated beautifully by the groom’s relative and made things even more magical. If you have ever been to a Slavic wedding you know the best part… the FOOD! The grooms mother owns a Ukrainian Deli and is always cooking an perfecting her craft. There was so much of it and all of it I did not have for such a long time! My mouth is watering thinking about it. Between bites I would sneak a glance up at the wedding party’s table. I would catch them holding hands, bickering, snuggling, and looking at each other in the eyes so deeply you knew they saw each other’s souls. I could see all the pictures and the regular ceremonial activities testing the groom’s patience. One thing that he still needs to sharpen a bit. He will need it in the life ahead of him.

Afterwords we headed downtown with another groomsmen of mine and childhood friend, my brother, and a high school classmate. Its good to have friends that you can have a meaningful conversation with. Too often are conversations casual and meaningless. It was like a breath of fresh air to chat about some of the issues we are facing in all of our lives. With the serious conversations behind us we began to remember the troublemaking years. We sat until 2 am telling story after story that led into the next story of a time when we were kids and didn’t have a care in the world. With each story our voices raised with the excitement of momentarily reliving these predicaments. Surrounding people looked at us wild-eyed as we would bellow out laughter during and after each story. We paid for our tickets and were hurried out the door by staff that had been sitting behind the counter and eyeing us, most likely cursing us for making them stay late.

It was good to go back to that time. My childhood and teenhood had been a wild one. Lots of mistakes had been made and I got into more trouble than I would have liked. Regardless I am grateful for it. It all made me who I am today, the mistakes made where lessons, the pain a reminder. I would not change a thing about it. It was a path I was destined to take.