Just returned from a great trip to Carmel with my family for my sister's birthday.  We also went to a wedding.  My sister Cheryl, her husband and three children lived across the street from the Montague family for many years.  I spent many Christmases and other vacations with the Montagues; they have four daughters.  So one of the daughters was married on Saturday to her boyfriend from Sweden.  It was such a gorgeous wedding in a small chapel in Carmel, the Church of the Wayfarer.  Wayfarer fits.  Ingrid and David, the bride and groom, have traveled extensively for such a young couple.  Now David lives with Ingrid in Los Angeles.  About twenty-five members of his family and friends flew to California from Sweden for the wedding.  One of the gifts they presented to Ingrid and David was a simple but lovely box with the lid open and nothing in it.  David's uncle said it was to stay open all through the wedding and reception so the great good feelings from everyone, the joy and love of the day would be with David and Ingrid always in this box.

What a wonderful idea.

Then the singing and dancing commenced, and wow, what singing.  Ingrid has a terrific voice, which she got from her Aunt Ingrid who is an opera singer. So many songs, I can't remember all the titles, but one of my favorites was listening in the church to the Lord's Prayer sung by Aunt Ingrid.  Oh, yes, and also, at the reception, "Love me Tender" sung by the Swedish contingent.  Ingrid sang about home to David.  Ingrid's twin sister, Holly, sang "American Woman," to her sister, accompanied by their father on the guitar, another sister on bass, and one of the band members on piano. Then we danced our asses off.  The walk back to our B & B was incredible, too.  At midnight, my family and I walked along a residential street one block from the sea.  There are no street lights in Carmel, and it was pitch black out, so the stars were, well, the stars!  You could see them like you never can, at least here in the Bay Area.  The darkness, the starlight, the sound of the waves.  Our laughter.  And at one minute passed midnight, my sister Cheryl turned sixty. I couldn't believe it and neither could she.  Sixty! Just yesterday, I was sixteen and she was getting married.  I was her Maid of Honor, standing by her side, holding the hand of our baby sister, Kerry, who was the one-year-old flower girl.  I wept throughout the ceremony, so happy for Cheryl but also unable to believe my big sister would leave me, that she wouldn't live with us anymore.  How could it be?  How can it all be?  Here and gone, so fast, the changes.  But there we were, walking down the seaside street under the wheeling wild stars, moving, changing, part of the astral traffic.

Some days are keepers although they can't stay.  I will treasure this time together with my family and friends like the gift of the open box at the wedding.

Turn Around  (Sung by Aunt Ingrid as her brother John danced with his daughter Ingrid at the wedding)

Where are you going
My little one, little one
Where are you going
My baby, my own

Turn around and you're two
Turn around and you're four
Turn around and you're a young girl
Going out of the door

Where are you going
My little one, little one
Little pigtails, petticoats
Where have they gone

Turn around and you're tiny
Turn around and you're grown
Turn around and you're a young wife
With babes of your own

Where have they gone
My little ones, little ones
Where have they gone
My babies, my own

Turn around and they're young
Turn around and they're old
Turn around and they're gone
And we've no one to hold

Where are you going
My baby, my own