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Wedding Surprises and New Family
The charming meal at the Inn at Mountain View Farm ended part one of our wedding plans — the part where we slipped north, with seven closest family members to witness our marriage vows before a calm and kind justice of the peace. Rings on our fingers, properly married, we packed up Dave’s unsteady-on-his-feet father, as well as his younger sister and de facto older sister (an aunt close to his age, who’d grown up with him), and headed for the synagogue.
It was time for the Friday evening Shabbat service, and we knew Dave’s close friend Julius Lester would meet us there.
Julius’s deep, resonant, musically trained voice gave extra meaning to the services he provided as “lay leader.” So did his calm explanations that invited knowledgeable and respectful spiritual experience in each chapter of the Jewish year. A mid-life convert himself, with a magical backstory of how he’d found his focus, he glowed with a passion for history, religious tradition, and rural life that meshed well with Dave’s interests. In fact, in our book-cluttered apartment, a ringing phone at 11 p.m. always meant Julius reaching out, so I’d pass the phone to Dave, then settle into a book myself for the next half hour or more.
