Alan said this, “I have attended a wedding… I have been a groomsman at a wedding… I have been a groom at a wedding… and now I have been the father of a bride at a wedding…”
And I could not help but think that there had to be an additional table set… perhaps just off to the side. Mommie Soph would have been there, silently walking around the table making sure that my father had enough food to eat. My mother was there, too, as was Sadie Cadan, Alan’s mother. Yes, they were all there that night… stars twinkling over the Sound.
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It’s funny how things change in size in our memory. That grandfather’s clock that appeared so enormous when we were young is now a more human-like dimension.
And my memory had told me that the scope of the Christina Room was much grander, and the N.C. Wyeth that hung over the hearth was bigger still. But that did not dim the joy that I felt to return to that dinning room in the Hotel Du Pont. I stayed at the Hotel about 8 times a year. And the Staff knew my favorite table. The room had wonderful art work… all the Wyeths… N.C., Andrew & Jamie… plus a couple of Charlie Colombo’s (also part of the “Brandywine Heritage”)… and my table, a deuce was along a wall, and was next to a wonderful Andrew Wyeth. The room had richly carved dark wood walls and a high ceiling (also with ornate decorations). Comfortable chairs made this a place natural to linger after dinner.
Nothing gave me more satisfaction than treating Jim Coleman to dinner there. We would talk the night away. My second adult friend and me. Jim lost his life to Lou Gehrig’s Disease a half a dozen years ago. Oh… the pride he would have felt watching his grandson get married this past Saturday.
And when I walked out onto the patio of the Wilmington Country Club on Saturday night to get some fresh air… I looked skyward… I am sure I saw an extra star casting its light in our direction…