This happened a while back, but it's definitely a story that should be preserved for posterity.
It was Christmas 2009, my stepdaughter Maya was in town with her family. She had been talking about getting married to her long-time fiancé that year, but as far as I knew no date had been set - and we were quickly running out of year to make the event happen.
It was during during an informal family Christmas celebration on 12/28/09 (Monday) that she told the family about the small wedding she was planning for that Thursday (12/31/09). The wedding was going to take place at her cousin Ryan's house and Maya's best friend was going to perform the ceremony. She was inviting close family only, so she was expecting about 20 people. As I heard it the first time that night, that plans sounded good.
After the Christmas party the I took the grand kids home with me, because they wanted to spend the night at Oma's house (i.e. my place). We had a busy evening.
My own wedding had been a small affair: justice of the peace, bride, groom, two witnesses and a red rose... so I didn't really think much more about the upcoming wedding that night.
It wasn’t until the next day (Tuesday) I that I started thinking about the actual details of that little wedding get-together Maya was planning. There were going to be 20 people at that house. They were going to need something to eat or drink....
I decided that I'd buy some snacks, maybe some champagne, but then – as I was standing in front of a Black Forest cake at the bakery section of Sam’s club with my granddaughter - I suddenly realized that the traditional food for a wedding was actually – a cake…. Why had I not thought of that earlier?
