This (OK, Last) Weekend II

I meant to post some more about last weekend before this weekend, but things got away from me. Sorry about that.

OK, so where we left off with last weekend was with Mr. Dry Wit's and Ms. Lively's wedding. (They're now on their honeymoon. Party on, Mr. Dry Wit and Ms. Lively!) In addition to Mr. Dry Wit and Ms. Lively, this was a big event for Enthusio and The Mermaid.

Enthusio got to be in a wedding for the first time. He was the ringbearer. The Mermaid has been a flower girl before and Enthusio occasionally asked why he hadn't been in a wedding, so it was very nice that he got to be the ringbearer. Because Enthusio loves Mr. Dry Wit and Ms. Lively so much, we thought about asking them if Enthusio could be in the wedding, but they asked, so, in the words of Ren and Stimpy, it was happy, happy, joy, joy. Enthusio got to wear a tux, which he enjoyed a lot. (It was big fun getting him measured. He didn't squirm or anything.) Because of Mr. Dry Wit's shoe preferences, Enthusio got to get and wear black Chuck Taylors, which he enjoyed a lot. Mr. Dry Wit and Ms. Lively gave him an wedding favor engraved with his name and the details of the wedding, which he enjoyed a lot. He got to eat meatballs and tri-tip (or, as Enthusio puts it, "Um, meeaat") and chocolate cake, which he enjoyed a lot. It was pretty much a big party for Enthusio.

The best part about Enthusio's experience, at least for me, was his dancing. He danced very enthusiastically at the reception. I'm talking VERY ENTHUSIASTICALLY. He basically was dancing around stamping his feet as fast as he possibly could while turning his hands and arms around really fast too and, then, stopping completely in a frozen pose at what appeared to be almost totally random intervals. Besides being another example of the Miniature Adult Fallacy (kids are not miniature adults, they are a strange, more or less indecipherable species of their own), it was just darn enjoyable. I tried to do it a little bit with him and nearly had a heart attack and ended up making my hurt ankle sore for about three days.

This (OK, last) weekend also was pretty good for The Mermaid. Because she was a groomsmaid (a bridesmaid on the groom's side), The Muse was tied up with various wedding stuff the day before the wedding and from about 9 a.m. on the wedding day until the wedding. This meant that The Mermaid, Enthusio and I spent a lot of time together during those times. They were really good, going above and beyond the call in the goodness category. They had pretty much the statistically probable level of annoying behavior brought on by boredom (ooh, The Mermaid just loved going to Men's Wearhouse while Enthusio and I tried on our tuxedoes), but no more and bounced back from it really well. On the wedding day itself, I basically had no activities planned to entertain them from 9 a.m. until 1:30, so we drove around seeing relatives and they didn't destroy anything at anyone's house! It was great. They were great. I was proud of them.

Specifically in relation to The Mermaid, the wedding brought out something that I had never seen in her before. Before the wedding party showed up, I was dancing with her and with Enthusio and she really seemed to enjoy dancing. That was really nice. Even better was when everyone was dancing. This of course involved a big crowd with really loud music. Now, because The Mermaid is high-functioning autistic, she generally hates big crowds and loud music. She needs -- pretty much, physically, I think -- to go be in a quieter area. This time, however, when she was dancing just like everyone else, she just had this big beatific smile going. I would spin her around and she would just smile. It was great.

Later, in the evening, as The Muse and I expected, The Mermaid just got really tired and pretty much lost it. I had a real mix of emotions going. I wanted to stay, so I was kind of mad. I knew that The Mermaid was just feeling what she was feeling and that it was totally to be expected, so I wanted to do what I could to help her. I felt bad about being kind of mad about what was happening. But, basically, the night just ended a little earlier than I wanted. Ultimately, not a big deal. Certainly not enough to take the shine off of Enthusio's crazy dancing and The Mermaid's big smiles.