China, Cutlery, and Other Welding Equipment
So on Friday after my business trip, my boss flew back to Detroit while I flew to Atlanta. Some neighbors of my parents' threw my Fiancee and I a wedding shower. Rather than a pure bridal shower, this was to be a coed event; everybody was invited, including me. Which was good, because poor Shannon didn't know any of these people. It was arranged by three neighborhood women who are friends of my parent's, and they did a fantastic job.
The day got off to an awful start. Shannon had set an alarm so she'd be up in time, but the clock was a half hour off, so she got up much later than she'd wanted. It was an awful day; 50 degrees and very, very rainy. Wanting to make a good impression on everyone, especially the three hostesses who had put so much work into the event (I keep telling her she can't help making a good impression, but she doesn't listen), had purchased gifts for the three of them. We're not 30 seconds in the door when I manage to drop the gift I'm carrying; it landed with a soft crunching sound, thus cementing the rest of my day as a series of grovelling sessions.
There were people from the Atlanta Symphony (my parents are classical musicians), current and past neighbors, family friends, and a few personal friends of mine. There was one woman who I'd last seen about 15 years ago when we were both "symphony brats." Given that Shannon and her family didn't know anyone (and I can't say I know most of them well) they did a wonderful job of making us feel welcome and as comfortable as possible. Given that I knew very few of the people there on more than a casual level, and Shannon knew no one, the outpouring of goodwill and best wishes was almost overwhelming and wonderful.
We got almost everything on our wedding registry in one day: 3 china place settings (we now have 7 total), all 10 wine and water goblets; 4 place settings of silverware, and some gorgeous frames for wedding pictures. My family, though, took the cake.
We eat a lot of pasta, and my parents bought us a basket full of itallian cookbooks and music and wine and glasses, and a pasta maker. My littlest brother Mike, in an act of inspired brilliance, bought us a Quesadilla maker.
My other brother, Matt, the actor and artist, bought us the thing I've been most excited about from our registry: the knife set, with the following note:
To my dearest brother, and my dearest sister to be,
You are both about to begin another beautiful chapter in your beautiful lives. Your terrible wretched solitude will soon give way to a state of blessed unity. Your two souls will soon cease to exist as independent entities, and shall be merged, joined, stitched into one. In celebration of this welding, I hereby bequeath you with several sharp pointy things. May every dead animal carcass you cleave with them be an expression of your love for one another.
Lovingly,
Your loving brother
Matthew "The Love Bucket" Nitchie
12:02:18 AM 
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