Last Friday (August 12, 2005, for those of you who are already lost), we celebrated Mom’s and Dad’s 50th anniversary in style by arranging to have all of their children, with spouses and dates, gather at the Flat Rock Grille (“e” added to denote historical class – as in “Ye Olde Shoppe on the Hille”) in Greenville, SC (as opposed to Greevill, SC, or Flat Rock, NC – or Flatte Rocke, NC, for that matter).
While Mother insists that she knew about this plan from the very beginning, one has to wonder why she would look so shocked (above) upon first entering the restaurant. (Sorry, Ma. It appears to me that you weren’t entirely certain that we’d all be there…)
The 12 (yes, 12) of us spent 3 or 4 hours at the place, sucking up the suds and wine – and sparkling water, of course – and chowing down on some fairly good eats while being regaled with Cy’s rendition of how this surprise party came to fruition over the last many months. Dianne had arranged for Mom and Dad to receive anniversary wishes from President Bush, Cy and “T” presented the oldyweds with a coffee-table book about Israel and a Hebrew/Yiddish/Whatver/English dictionary, and all of us pitched in to get them a digital camera so that they could take lots and lots of pictures when they visit Israel later this year.
Dianne also managed to purloin the little bride-and-groom dealie that was on M&D’s wedding cake 50 years ago, and she cleverly had it grafted onto a brand new cake, which was hidden in the restaurant’s vault until the proper cake-cutting ceremony could be held. 
This whole schlemiel (that’s a Yiddish/Hebrew word for “thing” which was made wildly popular by that great musical, Laverne & Shirley) was, of course, far too much excitement for the various grandchildren which have somehow appeared due to Mom and Dad’s original vows, and so a combination Birthday Party (for Larry), Anniversary Celebration (for Greg and Lisa) brunch was held at G&L’s house on Saturday morning (this would be the 13th – everyone still with me?). Of the 10 million or so who showed up for this august (get it? August? In August? Ha! I slay me!) event, foster child William was by far the cutest. He made a brief appearance before hitting the bottle and crashing for the duration.
Okay, so there weren’t 10 gazillion people there. It just seemed like it at times, what with the antics of Adam, Samuel, Wesley, Nathan, Riley, Tad, Zachary, and Dad; all of whom posed for incredibly touching photos, which I’m sure will one day be immortalized in FBI files.
After the festivities ended at G&L’s, I followed Larry, Marilyn, Adam and Samuel on a circuitous route back to 85 and headed south to Atlanta, arriving in plenty of time to gorge on shrimp alfredo and watch a movie (“K-Pax”, I think, was the name of it. Quite good).
Random pictures from the weekend:
