birthday eve part 2

my cousin george and his wife zelda had a big party in their back yard to celebrate the marriage of one of their four girls. george is a woodworker by trade, but it appears to me that he is not just a woodworker, but a worker worker. their home is filled with his work--beautiful handmade doors, railings, molding, etc., but this summer when two of his girls announced they were getting married (to two boys), george decided it was time to put a bit more effort into the back yard because the girls wanted their weddings in the yard.

george and zelda have a huge lot that overlooks the jordan river as it enters the valley. the lot slopes steeply downhill towards the river, so george terraced the land and added rock walls, stairs, and a waterfall, as well as leveled areas with bits of lawn. together they planted numerous plants and all in all, created a lovely area.

my mom and dad rode to the party with us, which is always, well, you know, an adventure of sorts. i finally broke down and admitted to my mom that she weights five pounds less than me, which surprisingly, did not delight her. as we parked the car and walked into the party, we heard laughter, some definite partying noise, and a pretty reasonable 70s band who did a mean cover of 'walk this way'.

what i thought was delightful--the rockwork, the lawn paths, the music, the attendees--were less than delightful for my parents. i understood their concerns completely--the fear of falling on the bumpy lawn, hitting their heads on the rocks, being unable to summon help because of the loud volume of the band, and their fear that none of the tattooed, pierced, attendees could be trusted to assist them or even call 911 on a cell phone.

then jack came to the rescue. he escorted my parents back to the upper level, where the food was located and the ground was smoother, and the band was quieter. and he visited with them while my cousins, Charlene and Zelda and I rocked out to the 70s tunes and completely embarrassed the youngsters, who had no idea how to dance to the music of our youth.