I missed Saturday and Sunday postings. On Saturday I drove down to Philly to see my brother Joe–he’s in from Guam to visit us, and he’s in Philly until Wednesday. It’s difficult to articulate, but on Saturday I was treated to a full and joyful day of true Mancuso family life, from family bantering to Joe’s amazing demonstration of persuasion, intimidation, and sheer force of will to attain a five dollar discount on a DVD player (we were right, they were wrong, they gave us the five bucks off).
On Sunday we spent an exhausting but fun day with friends, the Stiles and the Williams families. I had a great time with each, and I just wish we could have spent more time with each of them (these were mutually exclusive activities). Joe and Laura Stiles’ little daughter was christened early in the morning, and things went flawlessly. I really enjoyed the church, and it was fun to let the Mass responses flow out of me almost subconsciously. There are little things that I forget about Catholicism, skills I never use as a Methodist, like the practiced flip of the foot to fold out the pew kneelers. Of course, my wife couldn’t follow the ceremony at all, so I had to squelch my push to convert back to Catholicism…
The picnic afterwards was a lot of fun–one of the last times we’ll see the Stiles up here–they’re moving away soon (no Brad, not because of me–I think). I have a feeling that we’ll stay in touch, though, and not just because of the awesome pizzelles that Joe had at the picnic. Actuallly, the pizzelles disturbed me greatly–they caused me to blow my diet big time. Eight times, in fact–I think I made a huge dent in the pizzelle supply there. Terrible, terrible.
We had to cut short the picnic to get to Mike’s surprise birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was great to see Mike and the family, and the kids had a great time. Unfortunately, this place uncovered my wife’s shocking addiction to Skee Ball. Don’t worry, I’m looking for help for her. I really think that if she had unlimited tokens that she’d still be there now, rolling the balls.